It's funny sometimes, I stop and look around my life and it's just ordinary. And while that sounds bad, it's not. Ordinary probably makes up the majority of life, and learning to enjoy it and be content in it makes life better. I have friends and even relatives who chase after the next thing, or activity and while they are busy doing that, the simple days of their life slip right past them.
So, that's what I have around me right now, mostly ordinary. School is going well for the youngest, middle is enjoying college and getting good grades, oldest decided to get a job at a nearby factory and leave behind the fast food life, LOL. He did keep his part-time radio job that he's had since early High School though since the factory job is day shift. My job is humming along, pretty normal. Staying steady with quilts - I have like a dozen stacked up which is awesome financially, and for a change, it isn't even stressing me out to have so many in line. I'm surprised and relieved about that part, LOL.
I am looking forward to some quilting in December. I have decided to take on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt "Grand Illusion." I've never done a mystery quilt before. I'm too nervous about how it will turn out. Never sure if I'm picking the right colors or not. But with Bonnie, she gives you a color palette. Some folks change it around and choose other colors, but for a person like me who isn't really strong in color theory, it's great to just have a roadmap. The deciding factor is I've looked at her last several mystery quilts and they all turn out FABULOUS! Her color choices, the piecing pattern, it all just works beautifully. The finished quilts always look amazing and make you wish you had tried it. So I have already pulled fabrics from my stash to match the paint chips and I'm ready to go. The first clue will be posted online the day after Thanksgiving. I'm sure I'll fall behind in the clues because there is always A LOT of cutting and piecing, but hopefully I can have it done for the 4H fair -- that's a reasonable goal ;)
Friday, November 7, 2014
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Teenagers, aren't they cute ;)
I had to laugh today as I was browsing through Facebook. I have a couple of Ellen's friends as my friends (truly not sure how that happened, or maybe we are not friends, but their posts show on my feed.) ANYWAY, one of them (who is notorious for being kind of lazy, selfish and immature) is whining about her college professor here at the local community college calling her out in class for not being there. This gal is whining about how hard her life is, she has SSOOOOOOO much going on, and can't the professor understand that???? I can only laugh at the fact that the younger person who has a part-time job, classes, and, um yeah, that's it, is complaining to a grown-up who presumably has a household to maintain, family to take care of (cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.), her teaching job and maybe another job. Gee, who is the busier of the two???? Not the whiner! Her whole post just screams "Immature."
The other part that was interesting was all the friends of hers chiming in to complain about their college attendance policies. The mom in me wanted to post something like "Hey kids, college is your job right now, it's your biggest responsibility. If you can't make it to class 2 or 3 times a week, then you have a serious problem! A few of you have part-time jobs, but these are not jobs that have you bringing home work, so for the most part, you have maybe 15 - 20 hours of work a week and 4 or 5 classes. That's not overwhelming. So quit whining, get your homework done so you are prepared for class, and get your bahooky to class!!" Of course, I just kept scrolling instead of commenting. Probably for the best ;)
I did have a customer come to the house for an intake appointment and bring FIVE quilts last night - hurray! Marci helped me with folding and unfolding and that made the appointment go quickly. Of course, making the appointment go quickly was her point because the boyfriend was playing softball at 7pm. We made it there during the second inning. They lost in a landslide - 16 to 4, ugh. So we text his mom and got permission to take him out to Taco Bell for a consolation snack and some visiting time before we drove him home. It was a nice visit too. Since Marci didn't have school in the morning (fall break) I wasn't worried about keeping her out too late, and we got him home around 9:30pm. Then, best of all, I actually got a good night's sleep! I *think* the dog got me up to take her potty at some point around midnight maybe, but I don't remember for sure, LOL. It's been a week or so since I had a really good night of sleep, so it was appreciated, that's for sure!
Having an easy day at work, and getting ready to work on our house finances for a bit. My bills are strewn all around the van right now from the bill binder spilling it's unzipped guts ;) So getting this under control today will be a big job :)
The other part that was interesting was all the friends of hers chiming in to complain about their college attendance policies. The mom in me wanted to post something like "Hey kids, college is your job right now, it's your biggest responsibility. If you can't make it to class 2 or 3 times a week, then you have a serious problem! A few of you have part-time jobs, but these are not jobs that have you bringing home work, so for the most part, you have maybe 15 - 20 hours of work a week and 4 or 5 classes. That's not overwhelming. So quit whining, get your homework done so you are prepared for class, and get your bahooky to class!!" Of course, I just kept scrolling instead of commenting. Probably for the best ;)
I did have a customer come to the house for an intake appointment and bring FIVE quilts last night - hurray! Marci helped me with folding and unfolding and that made the appointment go quickly. Of course, making the appointment go quickly was her point because the boyfriend was playing softball at 7pm. We made it there during the second inning. They lost in a landslide - 16 to 4, ugh. So we text his mom and got permission to take him out to Taco Bell for a consolation snack and some visiting time before we drove him home. It was a nice visit too. Since Marci didn't have school in the morning (fall break) I wasn't worried about keeping her out too late, and we got him home around 9:30pm. Then, best of all, I actually got a good night's sleep! I *think* the dog got me up to take her potty at some point around midnight maybe, but I don't remember for sure, LOL. It's been a week or so since I had a really good night of sleep, so it was appreciated, that's for sure!
Having an easy day at work, and getting ready to work on our house finances for a bit. My bills are strewn all around the van right now from the bill binder spilling it's unzipped guts ;) So getting this under control today will be a big job :)
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Challenge Summary
To be honest, 30 quilts it 30 days was not really going to be possible. I mean, I have a job and a family and commitments. But you know, it got me off my duff and quilting so it served the purpose. I finished these:
1. Heidi's baby quilt (commissioned)
2. Sylvia green quilt
3. Sylvia pink & brown quilt
4. Sylvia light greens quilt
5. Lisa's Dresden plates
6. Amber's brown, green, yellow baby quilt
7. Marci's zebra quilt's binding (counting as a finish - I just need to join the two binding ends, & sew)
So, if I round up (and am kind ;) ) I made about a third of my goal. And ya know what, that's about a half dozen more quilts than I would have completed without a challenge! So now I think I want to do a "How many can I accomplish in a month?" challenge! The list of "to do's" is the same, with one more added. The goal is the same - get them done and out the door! But the challenge is just a little different. This weekend is the quilt show, so 3 days lost there, but hopefully in the month of October, I can beat the 7 from September! Maybe even double it!!
Home is good. Staying tidy, and that's something. I've been cooking most nights, and that is appreciated. Once I get a few big budget things tackled and have a weekend free from quilting, I plan to attack Ellen's room. It will take a whole weekend, I'm sure, LOL. But it will be wonderful to have it tidy and keep the door open. I have a pretty, lacy comforter set that I'll be putting on the antique bed, and it will just look so nice. And boy, just to keep the curtains hanging up in there, will be a wonderful change! Her room looks like part of an abandoned house or maybe a spooky attic from the outside because she never leaves the curtains hanging up - not sure why, but annoying that's for sure!
I did see the NeuroPsych doctor Monday to see if my memory failures are serious. And they are not. Good news! We didn't even do the actual test. After the review of the questionnaire, it became apparent that my memory stuff is probably related to my depression. The doctor and I agreed that it was probably best to skip the test and just have a follow-up appt. with the family Doctor to see if we need to add another medication to the one I'm taking, or maybe do some counseling. If my memory is still an issue in 6 months, then we'll proceed with the testing. The good news is, she said there were no indicators of dementia or early onset Alzheimers - so that's great!
Work is ok too. Hard to believe it's been 10 years that I've been here. They are getting ready for some major upheaval. Changing the constitution and the structure of the boards and committees that run the church. Some are in favor, and some are very not in favor. A few may even leave the church over this. It will be a rough time, but hopefully, hopefully it will make the church more healthy and get it growing again. It's been stagnate for several years really. It would be great to see some new families and some excitement around here.
1. Heidi's baby quilt (commissioned)
2. Sylvia green quilt
3. Sylvia pink & brown quilt
4. Sylvia light greens quilt
5. Lisa's Dresden plates
6. Amber's brown, green, yellow baby quilt
7. Marci's zebra quilt's binding (counting as a finish - I just need to join the two binding ends, & sew)
So, if I round up (and am kind ;) ) I made about a third of my goal. And ya know what, that's about a half dozen more quilts than I would have completed without a challenge! So now I think I want to do a "How many can I accomplish in a month?" challenge! The list of "to do's" is the same, with one more added. The goal is the same - get them done and out the door! But the challenge is just a little different. This weekend is the quilt show, so 3 days lost there, but hopefully in the month of October, I can beat the 7 from September! Maybe even double it!!
Home is good. Staying tidy, and that's something. I've been cooking most nights, and that is appreciated. Once I get a few big budget things tackled and have a weekend free from quilting, I plan to attack Ellen's room. It will take a whole weekend, I'm sure, LOL. But it will be wonderful to have it tidy and keep the door open. I have a pretty, lacy comforter set that I'll be putting on the antique bed, and it will just look so nice. And boy, just to keep the curtains hanging up in there, will be a wonderful change! Her room looks like part of an abandoned house or maybe a spooky attic from the outside because she never leaves the curtains hanging up - not sure why, but annoying that's for sure!
I did see the NeuroPsych doctor Monday to see if my memory failures are serious. And they are not. Good news! We didn't even do the actual test. After the review of the questionnaire, it became apparent that my memory stuff is probably related to my depression. The doctor and I agreed that it was probably best to skip the test and just have a follow-up appt. with the family Doctor to see if we need to add another medication to the one I'm taking, or maybe do some counseling. If my memory is still an issue in 6 months, then we'll proceed with the testing. The good news is, she said there were no indicators of dementia or early onset Alzheimers - so that's great!
Work is ok too. Hard to believe it's been 10 years that I've been here. They are getting ready for some major upheaval. Changing the constitution and the structure of the boards and committees that run the church. Some are in favor, and some are very not in favor. A few may even leave the church over this. It will be a rough time, but hopefully, hopefully it will make the church more healthy and get it growing again. It's been stagnate for several years really. It would be great to see some new families and some excitement around here.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Seemed to have hit a wall :/
Not much quilting progress to report on the 30 day challenge - I have one more Lover's Knot quilted, and waiting for binding, probably tonight. If the weekend doesn't get cluttered up with stuff, I should finish another tomorrow. I won't get anywhere near the 30, but I've got momentum and that is great. I also had a call for an appointment from a repeat customer while I was gone on my trip - yippee!!
The conference was great! The travelling went well and luckily our only incident was a flat tire on the trailer, but it happened at the hotel. So pastor was able to take the tire in to Wal-Mart and get a replacement the next day while we were in services. It had dry rotted on the sidewall, so we are quite lucky that it didn't blow out on the highway. The speakers and music were awesome, and it was just really cool to see all those women wearing skirts and big hair. Sometimes in my day to day life it seems like I'm the only skirt & hair lady I see, it can be lonely. Just the camaraderie of a large group of ladies was encouraging. It was so amazing to worship with almost a thousand other women in the same place - wow! And the messages were aimed at women, about being a mom, a leader and the best woman I can be for God.
Above is our group as we headed into Friday night's service We all had black & white or black & beige on and matched nicely - but it was completely unplanned. Sister Linda did my hair and I was so pleased, it turned out great! The pastor's wife is on the far right, and what's funny is, she checked her photos from before and had on a strikingly similar outfit on the last night of the previous conference, LOL!
This is our group in the service Friday night. Such a lovely bunch of ladies!!
Sister Linda and my pretty hair - I think she has better photos of it on her phone, maybe she can send me one. I have so very little hair to start with, and I don't know how to work with it at all. So it was really sweet of her to take some time out of getting herself ready and make my mop pretty ;)
The conference was great! The travelling went well and luckily our only incident was a flat tire on the trailer, but it happened at the hotel. So pastor was able to take the tire in to Wal-Mart and get a replacement the next day while we were in services. It had dry rotted on the sidewall, so we are quite lucky that it didn't blow out on the highway. The speakers and music were awesome, and it was just really cool to see all those women wearing skirts and big hair. Sometimes in my day to day life it seems like I'm the only skirt & hair lady I see, it can be lonely. Just the camaraderie of a large group of ladies was encouraging. It was so amazing to worship with almost a thousand other women in the same place - wow! And the messages were aimed at women, about being a mom, a leader and the best woman I can be for God.
Above is our group as we headed into Friday night's service We all had black & white or black & beige on and matched nicely - but it was completely unplanned. Sister Linda did my hair and I was so pleased, it turned out great! The pastor's wife is on the far right, and what's funny is, she checked her photos from before and had on a strikingly similar outfit on the last night of the previous conference, LOL!
This is our group in the service Friday night. Such a lovely bunch of ladies!!
Sister Linda and my pretty hair - I think she has better photos of it on her phone, maybe she can send me one. I have so very little hair to start with, and I don't know how to work with it at all. So it was really sweet of her to take some time out of getting herself ready and make my mop pretty ;)
This was our group at CiCi's Pizza on the way home. It was a great pizza buffet and we all left stuffed. I even tried the Pineapple dessert pizza and it was wonderful. This restaurant is one that they go to each year when they take the school kids to competition. We drove by the church that hosts the competition too. They are adding on and it looks amazing from the outside. The kid will be surprised when they come next year.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Friday already and September is almost half over, WOW!
On the challenge front, I worked on the next Lover's Knot quilt last night and got a few more rows done. I've done piano keys again in the outer border to control some of the fullness (and there is LOTS of fullness!) and then a version of the ribbon candy border in the next sashing. It's hearts, but done continuously like ribbon candy. I think I saw it somewhere before and finally figured out how to do it, I don't think it's original, LOL. For the body of the quilt, loops and hearts to tie in with that border. It's fairly open and breezy, so it does go quickly, although I've used 5 bobbins so far, so that is surprising!
Work is busy today because we have the annual fish fry. Lots of people in the building which is so odd, it's usually just me. But good lunch, so the trade off is worth it!
Looking forward to the women's conference next week with ladies from my church. We are going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I guess we're going to a resort there. I'm not entirely sure about where we are going, but I'll pack my bags, get in the van and get out where they tell me, LOL. Really, really looking forward to a worship experience with a big group of ladies. Our church usually has around 50 people for worship services, so this will be a very cool, new environment!
I haven't been off on my own for a trip since the quilting class I took in Ohio about 5 or 6 years ago. So even just the vacation aspect of getting away will be a treat. The part I'm most excited about is getting to know a few of the ladies from my church a little better. We don't get a great opportunity to sit and chat, and that is when you can really ask questions and find out more about someone. I did get to visit with Marci's BF's mom . We stayed behind after the meal at our last Women's group meeting. I got to ask her about when she found out she was carrying twins and what that was like. And she told me about how the babies got RSV when they were only a month old and the BF died and was resuscitated a couple times. He was definitely the sicker of the two, poor punkin! But it was just nice to have one on one time to talk and get to know her, and I'm looking forward to that with several of these ladies on the trip. We have a 6 hour car ride there and back, plus a whole afternoon Friday without commitments, plenty of opportunity there!
Work is busy today because we have the annual fish fry. Lots of people in the building which is so odd, it's usually just me. But good lunch, so the trade off is worth it!
Looking forward to the women's conference next week with ladies from my church. We are going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I guess we're going to a resort there. I'm not entirely sure about where we are going, but I'll pack my bags, get in the van and get out where they tell me, LOL. Really, really looking forward to a worship experience with a big group of ladies. Our church usually has around 50 people for worship services, so this will be a very cool, new environment!
I haven't been off on my own for a trip since the quilting class I took in Ohio about 5 or 6 years ago. So even just the vacation aspect of getting away will be a treat. The part I'm most excited about is getting to know a few of the ladies from my church a little better. We don't get a great opportunity to sit and chat, and that is when you can really ask questions and find out more about someone. I did get to visit with Marci's BF's mom . We stayed behind after the meal at our last Women's group meeting. I got to ask her about when she found out she was carrying twins and what that was like. And she told me about how the babies got RSV when they were only a month old and the BF died and was resuscitated a couple times. He was definitely the sicker of the two, poor punkin! But it was just nice to have one on one time to talk and get to know her, and I'm looking forward to that with several of these ladies on the trip. We have a 6 hour car ride there and back, plus a whole afternoon Friday without commitments, plenty of opportunity there!
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
And two more . . . .
Challenge is going great! Finished the first one for the Sylvia family and delivered it Monday. She loved it and sent two more tops with batting home with me. I have to shop for backing for her. That sounds funny, but she is homebound so she gives me her JoAnn's coupon and I go get the fabric and then she pays me back. So the finished one is the brown and pinks. I used Victorian Rose thread and it matches the pinks nicely. But the neat thing is that the pink looks great on the brown backing! Two quilts for the price of one. I looked on my camera, but apparently I didn't get any photos of this one, bummer!
The second finish for the week is a baby quilt. The piecing was so-so, several seams opened up on me as I was quilting. But it turned out great. I did feathers in the brown outer border and in the four colored triangles. For the beige background I did a meandering swirl all over. It really added some nice texture.
I used five colors of thread for this one, to match the fabrics. Lots of thread changes, but the end result was worth it.
Didn't manage to be very productive over my two days off though and that's a bummer. I was on such a great roll for the first week or so, and just really bushed this week. So, hopefully I can head home and get another of the Sylvia quilts done - they go quickly, and get moving again! I'm working on sketching ideas for the next two. One is a monkey wrench and the other is a BOM patchwork. Should both be fun.
The second finish for the week is a baby quilt. The piecing was so-so, several seams opened up on me as I was quilting. But it turned out great. I did feathers in the brown outer border and in the four colored triangles. For the beige background I did a meandering swirl all over. It really added some nice texture.
Didn't manage to be very productive over my two days off though and that's a bummer. I was on such a great roll for the first week or so, and just really bushed this week. So, hopefully I can head home and get another of the Sylvia quilts done - they go quickly, and get moving again! I'm working on sketching ideas for the next two. One is a monkey wrench and the other is a BOM patchwork. Should both be fun.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
First update - 2 done
Challenge is going along. I finished the Dresden plates and delivered them on Monday afternoon, before we took DD back to school. I was thrilled with the way it turned out!! It makes me want to finish piecing the one I have started so that I can quilt it up just like this one, LOL.
I did Egg & Dart in the sashing because it is a very traditional design and so is the Dresden Plate. But I found this cool idea on the internet to do a double line arc - giving the look of a flower. I auditioned several background fills, but they all overpowered the plates, so in the end I went with the lowly puzzle stipple. The busy floral border got dream feathers because I know the customer loves them (and so do I!)
The second finish (well, it will be finished tonight, but I'm counting it for now!) Is a commissioned baby quilt. I think I talked about this customer before. Her mom made baby quilts for the daughters (one is my customer) and then the granddaughters. Now mom has passed, but granddaughters are having babies. My customer still had all of her mom's leftovers from the quilts she made. And the templates and coloring books, etc. that she based her designs on were in the materials she brought me too. There were enough completed (by Gr'ma) blocks that each Granddaughter has 4 or 5 of Grandma's pieced blocks in her quilt too. I made the rest of the blocks. There was embroidery on each one too. This customer is really neat and she was just thrilled with the first one, she is very sentimental and the fact that we were able to incorporate her mom's work into each daughter's quilt was so appreciated!
Each quilt has the same Sun & Moon block in the top and bottom corners. For this one, I made them. The blocks gr'ma made are the Overall Sam, Cat, Humpty Dumpty, Squirrell & Elephant. I had to embroider the cat, it was just basted, and I made from scratch the Sun, Moon, Bear, & Lamb. The lamb block will get a little bell attached to the collar - just like her sister's quilt has. It's neat that some of the fabrics and blocks are repeated throughout the entire "family" of the quilts, tying them all together. And my customer told me that the fabrics are almost all recycled clothes, so there are more memories there. The heart on the teddy bear's chest is a special touch for this quilt, hearts are this daughter's special thing.
These pix are before it was quilted, and I actually have some quilting to finish up tonight, but I've brought it with me to work so I can go by the store and pick out binding fabric on the way home. We have Bible Study tonight, so if I can get it finished and the binding on, I can sit for half an hour and sew after study and let Marci & Collin spend some time together. They are both sad because he leaves for a school trip tomorrow night for a week and they'll only get to talk to each other for maybe 15 minutes each night, oh the miserable sadness of it all!! So hard being 16, LOL.
As far as home life, I'm excited that I seem to have developed the habit of doing my dishes and shining my sink. I've actually lost count of how many days in a row the dishes have been done, sink shined and kitchen tidy. This is pretty monumental for me!!
I did Egg & Dart in the sashing because it is a very traditional design and so is the Dresden Plate. But I found this cool idea on the internet to do a double line arc - giving the look of a flower. I auditioned several background fills, but they all overpowered the plates, so in the end I went with the lowly puzzle stipple. The busy floral border got dream feathers because I know the customer loves them (and so do I!)
The second finish (well, it will be finished tonight, but I'm counting it for now!) Is a commissioned baby quilt. I think I talked about this customer before. Her mom made baby quilts for the daughters (one is my customer) and then the granddaughters. Now mom has passed, but granddaughters are having babies. My customer still had all of her mom's leftovers from the quilts she made. And the templates and coloring books, etc. that she based her designs on were in the materials she brought me too. There were enough completed (by Gr'ma) blocks that each Granddaughter has 4 or 5 of Grandma's pieced blocks in her quilt too. I made the rest of the blocks. There was embroidery on each one too. This customer is really neat and she was just thrilled with the first one, she is very sentimental and the fact that we were able to incorporate her mom's work into each daughter's quilt was so appreciated!
Each quilt has the same Sun & Moon block in the top and bottom corners. For this one, I made them. The blocks gr'ma made are the Overall Sam, Cat, Humpty Dumpty, Squirrell & Elephant. I had to embroider the cat, it was just basted, and I made from scratch the Sun, Moon, Bear, & Lamb. The lamb block will get a little bell attached to the collar - just like her sister's quilt has. It's neat that some of the fabrics and blocks are repeated throughout the entire "family" of the quilts, tying them all together. And my customer told me that the fabrics are almost all recycled clothes, so there are more memories there. The heart on the teddy bear's chest is a special touch for this quilt, hearts are this daughter's special thing.
These pix are before it was quilted, and I actually have some quilting to finish up tonight, but I've brought it with me to work so I can go by the store and pick out binding fabric on the way home. We have Bible Study tonight, so if I can get it finished and the binding on, I can sit for half an hour and sew after study and let Marci & Collin spend some time together. They are both sad because he leaves for a school trip tomorrow night for a week and they'll only get to talk to each other for maybe 15 minutes each night, oh the miserable sadness of it all!! So hard being 16, LOL.
As far as home life, I'm excited that I seem to have developed the habit of doing my dishes and shining my sink. I've actually lost count of how many days in a row the dishes have been done, sink shined and kitchen tidy. This is pretty monumental for me!!
Friday, August 29, 2014
Time for a challenge!
I think it was in the fall last year or so when I tried a Longarm challenge. The gal who started it, counted up that she had 30 quilts she needed to finish and gave herself 30 days to get them done. So I think Labor Day is a good time to take stock and get to work! Funny, I checked back through the blog and it was TWO years ago (right before the quilt show again!) and I did the challenge finishing at Labor Day that time) The really, really, REEEEEAAAAALLLY sad part is, there are quilts on here that appeared on that list two years ago - Marci's lime, pink & zebra quilt - hey, at least it's just waiting on binding! The EMCC quilt and both of Sherry's quilts *sigh* the freebies always get pushed to the end of the line, and I don't think the snowman quilt was mentioned, but it was hanging around back then. The 2 round robins mentioned (one a wallhanging, and the other from my online quilt group) are both still in the UFO pile too, bummer. But that's ok, this is a new challenge and I will hit it with renewed energy and the effort this time will be so much better!! Am I convincing you yet? I think I'm starting to believe a little :)
From memory my list of customer quilts would be:
1. Lisa Weddle - Dresden Plates in 30's fabrics (on the frame now being quilted)
2. Heidi Armond - Commissioned baby quilt - finish embroidery, piece top, quilt & bind
3 - 10. Sylvia family - EIGHT twin/full quilts in same piecing pattern but different fabrics, all from the 1970's, 2 are on hand right now. All need quilting AND BINDING
11. Sylvia family - commissioned whitework baby quilt, 40 x 40 or so
12. Carol Joslin - greens & yellows Monkey Wrench pattern, no borders
13. Amber Gilbert - baby quilt
14. Amber Gilbert - antique bear paws, full/queen, needs estimate and quilt plan
15. Amber Gilbert - fall Thimbleberries colors, patchwork
16. Nancy Taylor - Christmas Halverston prints Block sampler
17. Nancy Taylor - blues and yellows block sampler
18. Sonja Denny - Super hero t-shirt quilt for hubby, all pieced, just need quilting and binding
19. Edna Martin Christian Center - Blue Ohio stars with white setting blocks, muslin needed for back
20. Sherry Campbell - kids of the world quilt, needs EZ board spirals, should be quick and easy
21. Sherry Campbell - Aztec quilt (QoV)
22. - 25. Whipker cousins - 50 Birthday quilts for Aunt Carole's kid, need quilted and bound
26. My mom's sampler quilt - she forgot about it, not sure if she wants it quilted or basted for handquilting?
Then personal quilts/projects would be (if there were any time, LOL)
1. Marci's pink and zebra prints quilt, just needs binding sewn down
2. Grandmother's flower garden, just needs binding
3. "Let it Snow" snowman, needs buttonhole stitch around letters, then quilted
4. Crow sweatshirt - finish applique around flowers and add binding to cuffs, collar, & hem
5. Heart medallion wallhanging - not going to make it into a medallion quilt, so just quilt & bind it
6. Pillow case out of theater fabric for Kevin Rudzinski
7. Finish ripping out my Favorite Color quilt, come up with a quilting plan
8. Finish chicken pincushions for the quilt show boutique - need filled & sewn shut (12 or so of them)
I will check at home and see if there are others (and I fear there are, LOL) and then see if it is possible to do 30 quilts in 30 days? Well, a few more than 30 days, since I'm starting August 29th, and going to the end of September. I know that the customer with 8 quilts won't want them all back at once, but there's no reason I can't finish them all, but return them over the course of several weeks. I am sure I will feel so much better if I can tame this growing backlog and be ready to receive more for Christmas. With the economy and our family finances so dreary (another post for another day, but suffice it to say, our home insurance & flood insurance went up AGAIN, causing our house payment to go up when we were truly expecting it to finally decrease this year :( ) the extra income from this quilting effort will be awesome!
Heck, I might even get something of my own done in time to enter it in the quilt show, but I HIGHLY doubt it, LOL!! So it's on -
From memory my list of customer quilts would be:
1. Lisa Weddle - Dresden Plates in 30's fabrics (on the frame now being quilted)
2. Heidi Armond - Commissioned baby quilt - finish embroidery, piece top, quilt & bind
3 - 10. Sylvia family - EIGHT twin/full quilts in same piecing pattern but different fabrics, all from the 1970's, 2 are on hand right now. All need quilting AND BINDING
11. Sylvia family - commissioned whitework baby quilt, 40 x 40 or so
12. Carol Joslin - greens & yellows Monkey Wrench pattern, no borders
13. Amber Gilbert - baby quilt
14. Amber Gilbert - antique bear paws, full/queen, needs estimate and quilt plan
15. Amber Gilbert - fall Thimbleberries colors, patchwork
16. Nancy Taylor - Christmas Halverston prints Block sampler
17. Nancy Taylor - blues and yellows block sampler
18. Sonja Denny - Super hero t-shirt quilt for hubby, all pieced, just need quilting and binding
19. Edna Martin Christian Center - Blue Ohio stars with white setting blocks, muslin needed for back
20. Sherry Campbell - kids of the world quilt, needs EZ board spirals, should be quick and easy
21. Sherry Campbell - Aztec quilt (QoV)
22. - 25. Whipker cousins - 50 Birthday quilts for Aunt Carole's kid, need quilted and bound
26. My mom's sampler quilt - she forgot about it, not sure if she wants it quilted or basted for handquilting?
Then personal quilts/projects would be (if there were any time, LOL)
1. Marci's pink and zebra prints quilt, just needs binding sewn down
2. Grandmother's flower garden, just needs binding
3. "Let it Snow" snowman, needs buttonhole stitch around letters, then quilted
4. Crow sweatshirt - finish applique around flowers and add binding to cuffs, collar, & hem
5. Heart medallion wallhanging - not going to make it into a medallion quilt, so just quilt & bind it
6. Pillow case out of theater fabric for Kevin Rudzinski
7. Finish ripping out my Favorite Color quilt, come up with a quilting plan
8. Finish chicken pincushions for the quilt show boutique - need filled & sewn shut (12 or so of them)
I will check at home and see if there are others (and I fear there are, LOL) and then see if it is possible to do 30 quilts in 30 days? Well, a few more than 30 days, since I'm starting August 29th, and going to the end of September. I know that the customer with 8 quilts won't want them all back at once, but there's no reason I can't finish them all, but return them over the course of several weeks. I am sure I will feel so much better if I can tame this growing backlog and be ready to receive more for Christmas. With the economy and our family finances so dreary (another post for another day, but suffice it to say, our home insurance & flood insurance went up AGAIN, causing our house payment to go up when we were truly expecting it to finally decrease this year :( ) the extra income from this quilting effort will be awesome!
Heck, I might even get something of my own done in time to enter it in the quilt show, but I HIGHLY doubt it, LOL!! So it's on -
Friday, August 22, 2014
Forgot to post about prom and graduation, oops!
In all of the chaos about MIL, I forgot to post anything about prom or graduation. Middle DD went to her Sr. prom early in May (don't even remember the date, LOL) and looked sooo pretty! She found the dress in our local mall and it was pretty cheap as prom dresses go. I splurged and got her sparkly shoes and a handbag too. She went with a group of girl friends, no dates and had a great time.
Marci gave every single piece of lawn furniture a fresh coat of red paint, well, in between texts to Collin of course, LOL
Aunt Colleen used deck cleaner to freshen up the deck so we could paint it, but we ran out of rain-free days to paint it, so it was clean and pretty but not painted for the party.
We painted the insets of the front porch columns red to see if it would be nice and it was pretty sharp looking so we kept it. I really wasn't certain at first and almost painted the first one white again!
We had a simple buffet of hot dogs and burgers, Marci's bean dip, baked beans, potato salad, and chips. And of course, cake from Aunt Colleen! (gee, the siding on the house looks filthy! I don't think it was really that bad in real life?)
Glad we got this family shot, so often we get busy at these special day events and forget to get a picture of all of us together. Especially if I'm taking the pix, I forget to give the camera to someone else and let them get all 5 of us (well, plus gr'ma and gr'pa in this photo).
These are Ellen's friends, actually, not a very good pix, but it's kind of neat because you can see Robert, the one looking at her. Turns out he likes her, and they have even gone on a few dates as of the writing of this post. They worked together at Chuck E Cheese and he was the first one to arrive at the party - even was about 10 minutes early, I think he likes her :)
Her pretty cakes, with her diploma and an awesome pix of her marching her freshman year. She didn't have senior pix taken, but this one was from family pix done in January.
Our graduate, mostly she's glad the graduation is done and the hanging out could start!
Then the first weekend in June, she graduated, hooray! It was a beautiful day and we had a terrific party on the deck - just a simple cookout with family and some of her friends. There was a lot of painting and cleaning going on outside the house to get ready though! And Marci was a huge help because the boyfriend got to come to the party too, and it was her first chance to introduce him to the extended family . All in all it was a wonderful day and I think we all had a great time.
Glad we got this family shot, so often we get busy at these special day events and forget to get a picture of all of us together. Especially if I'm taking the pix, I forget to give the camera to someone else and let them get all 5 of us (well, plus gr'ma and gr'pa in this photo).
These are Ellen's friends, actually, not a very good pix, but it's kind of neat because you can see Robert, the one looking at her. Turns out he likes her, and they have even gone on a few dates as of the writing of this post. They worked together at Chuck E Cheese and he was the first one to arrive at the party - even was about 10 minutes early, I think he likes her :)
This was Ellen looking at her hope chest after the boys carried it up to the deck from the barn - thank you Chad, Collin, Robert & Leelynn! The front panel slides over and reveals padded, hanging storage for necklaces. In the background (L to R) are Gr'ma Bobbie, Robert, Collin & Marci.
Her pretty cakes, with her diploma and an awesome pix of her marching her freshman year. She didn't have senior pix taken, but this one was from family pix done in January.
Our graduate, mostly she's glad the graduation is done and the hanging out could start!
A little bumpy at first . . . .
All seemed to go well when we dropped off middle DD at college. Got her moved in and went out to a late lunch, even bought a few things at the big WM that we forgot to bring. Interestingly, DH pointed out that DD shouldn't be surprised to become an odd man out. Her two suitemates were black and she is not. He said he just got a feeling that those girls were going to hang out and DD would be left out.
When I got up on Saturday AM, I found a text from 4:15am that pretty much confirmed that DH had been correct and that he had perceived a bad situation before any of us could even imagine it. Her text said, "If they keep making me feel bad about myself, I'm coming home. I don't want to have to hide under my blankets afraid to sleep every night while that Kayla girl parades her friends in and out and shit talks me. She didn't even bother to learn my name, mom. I'm "That little white girl." *sigh* By Saturday evening she was begging to come home and enroll in the local community college. From the texts my mom and sister were getting it was clear that DD was afraid for her safety and her belongings. The two suite mates had been drinking and partying in the shared living room the night before with several friends over - strangers to DD. She over heard them admitting to wanting to get her out of the room so that they could get one of their friends as their roommate instead. I talked to the Campus Police and the Asst. Director of her dorm - who was a very nice fellow and he took care of it. I told him that she was being bullied and was afraid for her safety and he managed to get her moved into a new room on a different wing in less than 30 minutes!
But, that meant we drove back down there (2.5 hours!) on Sunday to be sure she was settled back in ok and feeling better. We got her bed lofted and situated her furniture. Her 2 suite mates seem very nice and everyone who was involved (RA's etc.) were astonished at the level of racism that was being aimed at DD. They were glad to get her out of there and really glad they could turn this experience around. If we had brought her home Saturday night, I'm certain that her college career would have been over. She was so traumatized that she would never have gone on a campus for school again.
Two interesting things that let me know that God was in control of the whole thing: When I wrote her address down Thursday at work, I wrote it down wrong, transposed some of the numbers. So when I mailed the package on Saturday I mailed it to the wrong room. I figured it out Saturday afternoon and figured I'd tell her on Monday to let the mail folks know to be watching for it by name, not room number. When she text her sister the new room . . . . . it was 207 A - yep, the room I'd mailed the box to and the room I'd written down for all the family members, on Thursday. God knew all along that she wouldn't' be in 270A, he had his hand on her protecting her and guiding the journey. Also, even though I looked and looked in the van on Friday, I couldn't find my camera. So we had no pix of her first day at college. But when we went back on Sunday, it was right there in the van. So we took pix and we all decided that Sunday was her first day at college, the previous two days were just a bad horror movie, LOL!
She has had a great first week. Classes going well and no retaliation from the other girls. She is even hanging out with my friend's daughter (who is having roommate trouble too - hers is drinking and getting into her stuff without permission, ugh.) They are headed to a movie night on campus tonight so that should be fun, and she should be starting her campus job next week. I'd say she's off and rolling!
When I got up on Saturday AM, I found a text from 4:15am that pretty much confirmed that DH had been correct and that he had perceived a bad situation before any of us could even imagine it. Her text said, "If they keep making me feel bad about myself, I'm coming home. I don't want to have to hide under my blankets afraid to sleep every night while that Kayla girl parades her friends in and out and shit talks me. She didn't even bother to learn my name, mom. I'm "That little white girl." *sigh* By Saturday evening she was begging to come home and enroll in the local community college. From the texts my mom and sister were getting it was clear that DD was afraid for her safety and her belongings. The two suite mates had been drinking and partying in the shared living room the night before with several friends over - strangers to DD. She over heard them admitting to wanting to get her out of the room so that they could get one of their friends as their roommate instead. I talked to the Campus Police and the Asst. Director of her dorm - who was a very nice fellow and he took care of it. I told him that she was being bullied and was afraid for her safety and he managed to get her moved into a new room on a different wing in less than 30 minutes!
But, that meant we drove back down there (2.5 hours!) on Sunday to be sure she was settled back in ok and feeling better. We got her bed lofted and situated her furniture. Her 2 suite mates seem very nice and everyone who was involved (RA's etc.) were astonished at the level of racism that was being aimed at DD. They were glad to get her out of there and really glad they could turn this experience around. If we had brought her home Saturday night, I'm certain that her college career would have been over. She was so traumatized that she would never have gone on a campus for school again.
Two interesting things that let me know that God was in control of the whole thing: When I wrote her address down Thursday at work, I wrote it down wrong, transposed some of the numbers. So when I mailed the package on Saturday I mailed it to the wrong room. I figured it out Saturday afternoon and figured I'd tell her on Monday to let the mail folks know to be watching for it by name, not room number. When she text her sister the new room . . . . . it was 207 A - yep, the room I'd mailed the box to and the room I'd written down for all the family members, on Thursday. God knew all along that she wouldn't' be in 270A, he had his hand on her protecting her and guiding the journey. Also, even though I looked and looked in the van on Friday, I couldn't find my camera. So we had no pix of her first day at college. But when we went back on Sunday, it was right there in the van. So we took pix and we all decided that Sunday was her first day at college, the previous two days were just a bad horror movie, LOL!
She has had a great first week. Classes going well and no retaliation from the other girls. She is even hanging out with my friend's daughter (who is having roommate trouble too - hers is drinking and getting into her stuff without permission, ugh.) They are headed to a movie night on campus tonight so that should be fun, and she should be starting her campus job next week. I'd say she's off and rolling!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
And now for the good stuff!!
We are taking the middle child to college tomorrow, wow! It's about a 2.5 hour drive, so we are leaving about 6am. Tonight we'll finish packing up the car. She has about half of her stuff packed because it came from Gr'ma's when she moved out yesterday. But all the things I've been amassing for her (hamper, sheets, towels, cleaning stuff, food, etc.) still needs loaded up.
It's been a long week. My friend Angie is on vacation and I'm cleaning the dialysis clinic for her while she's gone. But that has made each day jam packed and scheduled to the minute. Last night is a good example - Mom & Jim wanted to take us out to celebrate DD going to college. So I worked from 8-4, then drove to MIL's and DD loaded all her moving out boxes up and we went home. She unloaded a couple that are not going to college, and we got back in the car with littlest one and made it to the restaurant right at 5:30pm. Left there at 7pm to go to mom's and we visited for a half hour, then I took both DD's home and switched out of my work clothes and made it to the clinic by 8:35 - just 5 minutes late to meet Jerrod who is cleaning with me. Home from that by 10:30 pm.
Now here is where it got interesting. I hadn't fed or watered the chickens in cages inside the coop for several days - just kept forgetting because I'm so busy. So I thought I'd better do that before I shut the coop up for the night. I prepared the bottles for their cages and grabbed a flashlight. As I got close to the coop and fluffy animal, a cat maybe? Waddled into the coop -- WAIT, is that a white tail? OH, and is the kitty mostly black???? UM, YIKES~ that would be what you call a Skunk, not a cat!! So needless to say, the birdies had to wait until this AM to get water and food, and they slept with the coop door open as well, LOL! Luckily, the coop doesn't smell like it had a skunk visitor last night, phew!
I have a great quilt on the frame, Dresden plates in 1930's fabrics, it's just so cute! And I have a great quilting plan too. So wouldn't you know it, my front handle switch went out, UGH! DH is going to swap it for the back handle switch (hopefully today) because it has to be soldered, and that is beyond my capabilities. He's going to drive down to the college tomorrow so I can work on some embroidery for a commissioned baby quilt. I'd like to get it onto the frame and quilted next weekend after hopefully finishing the Dresden plates this weekend. Delivering those will give our propane fund a big boost!
Work is mostly the same, although it's worth pointing out that I've been here 10 years on the 18th! Wow, that went quickly. I'm glad for all the special people I've met here and I do think that working here played a role in getting DH into a church and all of us to where we are today in our new church. God had a plan all along, as he always does!
It's been a long week. My friend Angie is on vacation and I'm cleaning the dialysis clinic for her while she's gone. But that has made each day jam packed and scheduled to the minute. Last night is a good example - Mom & Jim wanted to take us out to celebrate DD going to college. So I worked from 8-4, then drove to MIL's and DD loaded all her moving out boxes up and we went home. She unloaded a couple that are not going to college, and we got back in the car with littlest one and made it to the restaurant right at 5:30pm. Left there at 7pm to go to mom's and we visited for a half hour, then I took both DD's home and switched out of my work clothes and made it to the clinic by 8:35 - just 5 minutes late to meet Jerrod who is cleaning with me. Home from that by 10:30 pm.
Now here is where it got interesting. I hadn't fed or watered the chickens in cages inside the coop for several days - just kept forgetting because I'm so busy. So I thought I'd better do that before I shut the coop up for the night. I prepared the bottles for their cages and grabbed a flashlight. As I got close to the coop and fluffy animal, a cat maybe? Waddled into the coop -- WAIT, is that a white tail? OH, and is the kitty mostly black???? UM, YIKES~ that would be what you call a Skunk, not a cat!! So needless to say, the birdies had to wait until this AM to get water and food, and they slept with the coop door open as well, LOL! Luckily, the coop doesn't smell like it had a skunk visitor last night, phew!
I have a great quilt on the frame, Dresden plates in 1930's fabrics, it's just so cute! And I have a great quilting plan too. So wouldn't you know it, my front handle switch went out, UGH! DH is going to swap it for the back handle switch (hopefully today) because it has to be soldered, and that is beyond my capabilities. He's going to drive down to the college tomorrow so I can work on some embroidery for a commissioned baby quilt. I'd like to get it onto the frame and quilted next weekend after hopefully finishing the Dresden plates this weekend. Delivering those will give our propane fund a big boost!
Work is mostly the same, although it's worth pointing out that I've been here 10 years on the 18th! Wow, that went quickly. I'm glad for all the special people I've met here and I do think that working here played a role in getting DH into a church and all of us to where we are today in our new church. God had a plan all along, as he always does!
But the Mother-in-law might be crazy :0)
Started this post July 17:
Well, we made one more trip to the ER on Friday, May 30th - middle of the night again of course. Turns out the water pill that she was to take "as needed" and when I'd ask if she didn't think she should take one - she'd say no, she was just fine - ----- well, she needed to be taking it. She was retaining fluid and it was getting on her lungs causing her to be short of breath. There was a fight in the exam room between her and the daughter when we discovered that she should have been taking it but wasn't. The daughter had been pointing out her swelling feet and suggesting she was retaining fluid too. So of course, MIL was defensive and arguing that "that's fine, I just won't call or bother any of you anymore" and again saying we were to stay away from her doctor visits, she wants to be in the office alone with the Dr. (she thinks we are conspiring with him I guess.)
SO, we headed home and had an appointment with family doctor &; the heart Dr. on Monday June 2nd. I expected her to fuss about me going in but she acted like nothing ever had happened or been said about it. We just waltzed in there like normal. She was happy that he told her she could stop taking the bladder pill (she'd not taken it since April or so?) and the tummy pill (that she hadn't taken since MARCH!) so she feels like she got a victory. But he said the water pill is a must and all the others are too. He gave her prescriptions for the ones that didn't have refills left - that was cool, I wish my Dr. looked at all my Rx's on my visit and wrote new scripts for those that needed them. inevitably, I discover that I'm out of refills and need more meds, a week or so after a visit! Murphy's law!
Finished the post August 14:
Ended up having a big blow up with MIL the last Saturday in June. I had gone over to pick up DD for work, but MIL & her daughter were already fussing (I'd already been called a name by MIL even!) We ended up discussing lots of stuff that has been going on, trying to clear the air. But it became apparent to me that MIL was just being combative. She has been "off" the last few weeks. I brought up that she's been difficult and cranky towards me for the last two weeks but she wouldn't admit it or give me a reason. The daughter went into MIL's room to look for some paper RX's and MIL followed her. MIL was trying to grab daughter and daughter was swatting her away. There was no physical "altercation" but some swatting of hands. Also, in the Living room, MIL got up from her seat to attack a couple times and daughter stood up to her and kept her hands up defensively. One of the times MIL was going to hit me, and I didn't even realize it later until I was told. There was shouting and the whole confrontation was bad. MIL used her emergency device to call for help, saying "These girls are here and they are being mean to me and some one needs to come and make them leave." It was sad and kinda pathetic. The Sherriff's deputy arrived and we stepped outside. He talked to MIL and she said that she was doing just fine, keeping up with her chores and the animals, but we are trying to put her in a home and she doesn't want to go. We told him that she had been irrational of late and displaying temper and anger that are not normal. Many of the things she is saying are not true, but we are not able to discern if she is lying or delusional. He had us leave because she wanted us to, and she doesn't want either of us back in her home. *sigh* She will ask her neighbor to take her to town today, and I guess she'll lean on her for errands from now on.
UPDATE: Since I "got fired" by MIL, as I'm calling it. I have only returned into the house twice, to help my DD take something in or out, and once to use the phone (ours was out.) I've spoken to the neighbor and indeed, MIL asked her to be her caregiver, BUT, neighbor said "No, I have a house and a job, I can't do that, but I will take you to town for errands and doctor appts. when I can" But MIL is telling everyone that the neighbor is her caregiver. The day I was there to use the phone, MI L took the truck out of the garage and headed to town. I said, "I didn't know the Doctor released you to drive" and she responded that she could do anything she wants now. It is worth noting that she didn't say "The doctor said I can do anything I want" She is doing anything she wants because no one is supervising her anymore. My dd was still there up until last night when she moved out for college, and she was keeping an eye on her. But now, MIL has it just the way she wanted it - no one caretaking and she is in complete control. Unfortunately, that means she is taking risks she shouldn't (mowing the yard, going up and down stairs -- with laundry baskets in her hands even, driving, and not taking meds if she doesn't think she needs them., etc.) I can pray for her safety and health, but that's it. I'm sure she will get herself into a medical crisis (my money is on her stopping her water pill AMA) and end up in the ER, then we can step back in and hopefully the Doctors can get her to understand that her health and mental status don't support her being alone any more.
Well, we made one more trip to the ER on Friday, May 30th - middle of the night again of course. Turns out the water pill that she was to take "as needed" and when I'd ask if she didn't think she should take one - she'd say no, she was just fine - ----- well, she needed to be taking it. She was retaining fluid and it was getting on her lungs causing her to be short of breath. There was a fight in the exam room between her and the daughter when we discovered that she should have been taking it but wasn't. The daughter had been pointing out her swelling feet and suggesting she was retaining fluid too. So of course, MIL was defensive and arguing that "that's fine, I just won't call or bother any of you anymore" and again saying we were to stay away from her doctor visits, she wants to be in the office alone with the Dr. (she thinks we are conspiring with him I guess.)
SO, we headed home and had an appointment with family doctor &; the heart Dr. on Monday June 2nd. I expected her to fuss about me going in but she acted like nothing ever had happened or been said about it. We just waltzed in there like normal. She was happy that he told her she could stop taking the bladder pill (she'd not taken it since April or so?) and the tummy pill (that she hadn't taken since MARCH!) so she feels like she got a victory. But he said the water pill is a must and all the others are too. He gave her prescriptions for the ones that didn't have refills left - that was cool, I wish my Dr. looked at all my Rx's on my visit and wrote new scripts for those that needed them. inevitably, I discover that I'm out of refills and need more meds, a week or so after a visit! Murphy's law!
Finished the post August 14:
Ended up having a big blow up with MIL the last Saturday in June. I had gone over to pick up DD for work, but MIL & her daughter were already fussing (I'd already been called a name by MIL even!) We ended up discussing lots of stuff that has been going on, trying to clear the air. But it became apparent to me that MIL was just being combative. She has been "off" the last few weeks. I brought up that she's been difficult and cranky towards me for the last two weeks but she wouldn't admit it or give me a reason. The daughter went into MIL's room to look for some paper RX's and MIL followed her. MIL was trying to grab daughter and daughter was swatting her away. There was no physical "altercation" but some swatting of hands. Also, in the Living room, MIL got up from her seat to attack a couple times and daughter stood up to her and kept her hands up defensively. One of the times MIL was going to hit me, and I didn't even realize it later until I was told. There was shouting and the whole confrontation was bad. MIL used her emergency device to call for help, saying "These girls are here and they are being mean to me and some one needs to come and make them leave." It was sad and kinda pathetic. The Sherriff's deputy arrived and we stepped outside. He talked to MIL and she said that she was doing just fine, keeping up with her chores and the animals, but we are trying to put her in a home and she doesn't want to go. We told him that she had been irrational of late and displaying temper and anger that are not normal. Many of the things she is saying are not true, but we are not able to discern if she is lying or delusional. He had us leave because she wanted us to, and she doesn't want either of us back in her home. *sigh* She will ask her neighbor to take her to town today, and I guess she'll lean on her for errands from now on.
UPDATE: Since I "got fired" by MIL, as I'm calling it. I have only returned into the house twice, to help my DD take something in or out, and once to use the phone (ours was out.) I've spoken to the neighbor and indeed, MIL asked her to be her caregiver, BUT, neighbor said "No, I have a house and a job, I can't do that, but I will take you to town for errands and doctor appts. when I can" But MIL is telling everyone that the neighbor is her caregiver. The day I was there to use the phone, MI L took the truck out of the garage and headed to town. I said, "I didn't know the Doctor released you to drive" and she responded that she could do anything she wants now. It is worth noting that she didn't say "The doctor said I can do anything I want" She is doing anything she wants because no one is supervising her anymore. My dd was still there up until last night when she moved out for college, and she was keeping an eye on her. But now, MIL has it just the way she wanted it - no one caretaking and she is in complete control. Unfortunately, that means she is taking risks she shouldn't (mowing the yard, going up and down stairs -- with laundry baskets in her hands even, driving, and not taking meds if she doesn't think she needs them., etc.) I can pray for her safety and health, but that's it. I'm sure she will get herself into a medical crisis (my money is on her stopping her water pill AMA) and end up in the ER, then we can step back in and hopefully the Doctors can get her to understand that her health and mental status don't support her being alone any more.
Friday, May 30, 2014
I'm not crazy!
If I am honest, I'd admit that I have been a little concerned about my memory lately. For years now, I've had a problem with forgetting the key word in a sentence, usually nouns. I will start to say the wrong word and usually catch myself, but the really strange thing is -- the wrong word will nearly always start with the same letter -- go figure, LOL. I've gotten used to it, and even joke about it. But then there have been a few other oddities. Here at work, I was working on the newsletter in Publisher and forgot how to delete extra pages. This is something that I've done many, many times. But on that particular morning, I couldn't for the life of me remember how to do it. It took about 15 minutes to stumble across how it's done. Gotta say, that was a little unnerving. Then I showed up to work one morning an hour late - just lost an hour. I was proud of myself for being on time - but then looked at the clock in the car as I pulled in, and saw it was NINE o'clock, not eight o'clock! No idea what happened. I mean, I didn't go driving off in a blackout or anything, just somehow I wasn't in the timeframe I thought I was. It was disconcerting to be sure. The other big thing was when I travelled to Ohio to pick up Ellen's hope chest and got lost. I was misplaced for 2 hours. I stopped for directions after the first misstep, and when told to turn Left, I took a right and didn't realize it. I just kept getting further off track. I wasn't afraid, but once I got home, I was concerned that I could get so lost even with help/directions.
But today, I took an online test and it looks ok. So it must just be normal 47 year old brain fade, LOL! Of course, that's what everyone has been saying, but still it feels good to find out "for sure." I guess I'll just have to do all the normal healthy things -- eat well, get good sleep, try not to stress out over the MIL stuff.
Speaking of which, the MIL headed to the ER a week after Max's bday, at about midnight. She'd been short of breath, dizzy and headache for days. The doctor said all these were symptoms of her AFib. They gave her a new Rx to try to control her AFib and regulate her heart rate. We headed home about 3 am. And by Sunday morning, she was sure that the new med was causing her all kinds of trouble! "They make me tired, they give me a headache, they "work" on my stomach" etc.! At her Monday heart Dr. appt. the nurse practitioner changed her med. On Wednesday, as I was getting home with the groceries, I got a call from Ellen at MIL's (half day of school) she was short of breath and thought she should go to ER again. This time they admitted her. She had a urinary tract infection, and the Dr. wanted to look more at her heart function because her kidney function numbers weren't good. The next day the Dr. said her heart was good (still AFib, but not having Cardiac failure, heart attack or anything like that.) and they think the UTI was causing the problems. So they kept her on the IV antibiotics and the new Rx for her AFib.
She got out on Friday, and was able to attend G'son's graduation. It sure wore her out though! Her pills have been troublesome though since they added two and changed the time they want her taking the blood pressure pill. I got her to use the pill box, setting it up on Saturday, but still having trouble getting her to take the BP pill at 5pm, she keeps taking it at noon. She fussed at me one day after I asked if she took her meds, and now is saying she doesn't want anyone going into the office with her when she sees her Dr. That's a bad, bad idea. The Dr. won't get accurate info about what is going on with her, and we will never get accurate info about what course of treatment the Dr. wants her to follow. When I came in on Monday she said she hadn't slept well because her tummy was upset all night. I asked if it was something she ate and her reply was "No, I know exactly what caused it and I'm going to be talking to my Dr. about it and get this fixed up once and for all." Translation: She thinks the pill she took before bed (her blood thinner) caused her upset tummy so she's going to try to quit taking it. If she goes to the appt. without anyone in the room with her, she is likely to come out and tell us the Dr. said she didn't have to take it anymore - lie right to our faces and stop taking her most important pill just because she "believes" it is causing trouble. *sigh* But I'm doing my best to encourage her, and monitor her pills unobserved, without getting completely tangled up in stress and worry. I can not work harder at keeping her on track than she is willing to work at it herself.
But today, I took an online test and it looks ok. So it must just be normal 47 year old brain fade, LOL! Of course, that's what everyone has been saying, but still it feels good to find out "for sure." I guess I'll just have to do all the normal healthy things -- eat well, get good sleep, try not to stress out over the MIL stuff.
Speaking of which, the MIL headed to the ER a week after Max's bday, at about midnight. She'd been short of breath, dizzy and headache for days. The doctor said all these were symptoms of her AFib. They gave her a new Rx to try to control her AFib and regulate her heart rate. We headed home about 3 am. And by Sunday morning, she was sure that the new med was causing her all kinds of trouble! "They make me tired, they give me a headache, they "work" on my stomach" etc.! At her Monday heart Dr. appt. the nurse practitioner changed her med. On Wednesday, as I was getting home with the groceries, I got a call from Ellen at MIL's (half day of school) she was short of breath and thought she should go to ER again. This time they admitted her. She had a urinary tract infection, and the Dr. wanted to look more at her heart function because her kidney function numbers weren't good. The next day the Dr. said her heart was good (still AFib, but not having Cardiac failure, heart attack or anything like that.) and they think the UTI was causing the problems. So they kept her on the IV antibiotics and the new Rx for her AFib.
She got out on Friday, and was able to attend G'son's graduation. It sure wore her out though! Her pills have been troublesome though since they added two and changed the time they want her taking the blood pressure pill. I got her to use the pill box, setting it up on Saturday, but still having trouble getting her to take the BP pill at 5pm, she keeps taking it at noon. She fussed at me one day after I asked if she took her meds, and now is saying she doesn't want anyone going into the office with her when she sees her Dr. That's a bad, bad idea. The Dr. won't get accurate info about what is going on with her, and we will never get accurate info about what course of treatment the Dr. wants her to follow. When I came in on Monday she said she hadn't slept well because her tummy was upset all night. I asked if it was something she ate and her reply was "No, I know exactly what caused it and I'm going to be talking to my Dr. about it and get this fixed up once and for all." Translation: She thinks the pill she took before bed (her blood thinner) caused her upset tummy so she's going to try to quit taking it. If she goes to the appt. without anyone in the room with her, she is likely to come out and tell us the Dr. said she didn't have to take it anymore - lie right to our faces and stop taking her most important pill just because she "believes" it is causing trouble. *sigh* But I'm doing my best to encourage her, and monitor her pills unobserved, without getting completely tangled up in stress and worry. I can not work harder at keeping her on track than she is willing to work at it herself.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Our first fight *sigh*
I jinxed myself! I was looking at the calendar last Monday night and kinda patting myself on the back that it had been 10 weeks of taking care of the mother-in-law, and it's gone well. Sure enough! The very next day we she and I got into a humdinger of a fight, our first biggie! And of course, it was over medicine.
We had gone to do her grocery shopping, and she picked up a bottle of Aleve to put in the cart. I took it out of her hands and reminded her that she couldn't take that, the Dr. specified Aleve as a no-no when they went over her discharge instructions. I remember her daughter getting right in her face and telling her "Now Mom, you can't take Aleve anymore because of you new medicine." And when they got home, the daughter threw out any bottles of Aleve in the house. After a heated discussion, I gave in and let her put it in the cart. I figured that when I loaded the groceries in the car, I'd pull the bottle out of her sack and put it in one of mine. Unfortunately, she must have smelled that plan on me, because when we got to the car she began rummaging through the sacks and found the Aleve and put it in her jacket pocket. *sigh*
I was mad because she just wasn't doing what she was supposed to do. When I got in the car, I turned to her and said, why don't you just call the doctor and tell him that you are in pain! And the Tylonal they are telling you to take isn't cutting it, so what can you take? Ask the doctor, that's why you have him, and he knows best. She said she had called the doctor, and I said that's BS! You know you didn't call him because he wouldn't have said this was ok. She then accused me of calling the doctors behind her back. That floored me! I told her I haven't done that EVER. I know how she felt about that and haven't once done it!! She insisted that I had. I started crying because I couldn't believe she'd tell a lie like that. We fussed, and she got out of the car, so I scurried around to her door to keep her from wandering off (She tells the story that I "yanked" her out of the car and she said I was trying to make her fall - *sigh*) So we're in the parking lot, I'm crying and we're both fussing at each other. I finally tell her to get in the car and I took her walking cane and put it in there (she says I took it from her and tried to make her fall, *sigh again*) She finally did. I said if she wasn't going to listen to me, I'd just tell her daughter about the Aleve and let HER get it through to MIL. She said, "You just do that, you call her all the time behind my back and tell her everything anyway!" Another lie I couldn't believe she'd say! I came around and got in and she fussed at me "Shut up and take me home, and just shut up, don't talk to me the way home." I was SOBBING! My teeth were chattering I was crying so hard. I told her that I hadn't spoken to her daughter since we took over her care, except for the one time they came to visit at her house and I was there. That's it! She said I'd talked to the Son-in-Law just the day before, "Yes, I answered the phone, and then passed it to you! I didn't TALK about anything!" So that was our ride home - 10 miles, me sobbing and asking her why she would tell lies about me and telling her that I've put keeping her in her home as my number one priority. Her saying "Just keep crying like a baby, throw your little fit like a crybaby, go on!" The logical part of my brain knew that she was just keeping up a diversion to throw me off the real issue, the bottle of Aleve in her pocket. Twice I even said "Heck, I can promise you I never called your daughter because I DON'T EVEN LIKE HER! Why would I call her?" Before I said it a third time, my logical part of the brain said, "Hey dummy, all she's going to remember about this car ride is that you don't like her daughter - -that's not good! Shut up!"
So, we get to my house and I go in and take my one sack of groceries, leaving her in the car. I wake up DH and say between sobs, "You need to get up, get dressed and take your mom to her house right now!" Poor fellow, he was sleeping peacefully, and then this! And of all things to say, he sits up and says "Why?" I kicked off my shoes across the room as I screamed "Because I F*ING said so!" Yeah, he didn't mumble another word!
I stripped and crawled into bed and kept sobbing. Really, the force of this cry almost scared me. I couldn't believe it. But I"m sure 10 weeks of stress built up and this was a bit of a release. By the time DH got home, about a half hour later, I was in the shower and finally not crying. I gave him just the bare bones, not wanting to really drag him into it, or give it any more attention than it needed.
Now, it's a week and a half later, I've talked with the niece a bit and given her some of my side, to offset some of MIL's inaccuracies. And I figure I'll just go on as if nothing ever happened. However, I now know that she has some paranoia (thinking I'm calling doctors and family behind her back) and does a fair amount of lying (either intentional, or just out of old age or confusion?) So I will no longer take what she says at face value. Also, I'm of the opinion that I'm not going to work harder to keep her healthy than she is working. So like the Aleve, if she's going to buy it and take it, I'll let her, I'll make notes to let the Doctor's know at her next appointment, but I won't tattle to anyone and I won't try to stop her. DH has said all along that she will try to do stupid things and we can't stop her. I was of the opinion it was our job to do just that. And now, I agree with DH. I'll remind her of things (Like you can't take that Aleve, or go down the stairs by yourself) but when she does it, then that's her choice and I'm not interfering.
She has started asking Sam to take her places and calling her daughter at least once about some doctor thing. But I'll just be acting like nothing happened and moving on. I plan to take her to the appointments I know about, if only to be sure I and the doctor are both getting full and first-hand information.
*sigh* at least it's not MY mom, that would add a whole other emotional, button-pushing level to the "fun" LOL
We had gone to do her grocery shopping, and she picked up a bottle of Aleve to put in the cart. I took it out of her hands and reminded her that she couldn't take that, the Dr. specified Aleve as a no-no when they went over her discharge instructions. I remember her daughter getting right in her face and telling her "Now Mom, you can't take Aleve anymore because of you new medicine." And when they got home, the daughter threw out any bottles of Aleve in the house. After a heated discussion, I gave in and let her put it in the cart. I figured that when I loaded the groceries in the car, I'd pull the bottle out of her sack and put it in one of mine. Unfortunately, she must have smelled that plan on me, because when we got to the car she began rummaging through the sacks and found the Aleve and put it in her jacket pocket. *sigh*
I was mad because she just wasn't doing what she was supposed to do. When I got in the car, I turned to her and said, why don't you just call the doctor and tell him that you are in pain! And the Tylonal they are telling you to take isn't cutting it, so what can you take? Ask the doctor, that's why you have him, and he knows best. She said she had called the doctor, and I said that's BS! You know you didn't call him because he wouldn't have said this was ok. She then accused me of calling the doctors behind her back. That floored me! I told her I haven't done that EVER. I know how she felt about that and haven't once done it!! She insisted that I had. I started crying because I couldn't believe she'd tell a lie like that. We fussed, and she got out of the car, so I scurried around to her door to keep her from wandering off (She tells the story that I "yanked" her out of the car and she said I was trying to make her fall - *sigh*) So we're in the parking lot, I'm crying and we're both fussing at each other. I finally tell her to get in the car and I took her walking cane and put it in there (she says I took it from her and tried to make her fall, *sigh again*) She finally did. I said if she wasn't going to listen to me, I'd just tell her daughter about the Aleve and let HER get it through to MIL. She said, "You just do that, you call her all the time behind my back and tell her everything anyway!" Another lie I couldn't believe she'd say! I came around and got in and she fussed at me "Shut up and take me home, and just shut up, don't talk to me the way home." I was SOBBING! My teeth were chattering I was crying so hard. I told her that I hadn't spoken to her daughter since we took over her care, except for the one time they came to visit at her house and I was there. That's it! She said I'd talked to the Son-in-Law just the day before, "Yes, I answered the phone, and then passed it to you! I didn't TALK about anything!" So that was our ride home - 10 miles, me sobbing and asking her why she would tell lies about me and telling her that I've put keeping her in her home as my number one priority. Her saying "Just keep crying like a baby, throw your little fit like a crybaby, go on!" The logical part of my brain knew that she was just keeping up a diversion to throw me off the real issue, the bottle of Aleve in her pocket. Twice I even said "Heck, I can promise you I never called your daughter because I DON'T EVEN LIKE HER! Why would I call her?" Before I said it a third time, my logical part of the brain said, "Hey dummy, all she's going to remember about this car ride is that you don't like her daughter - -that's not good! Shut up!"
So, we get to my house and I go in and take my one sack of groceries, leaving her in the car. I wake up DH and say between sobs, "You need to get up, get dressed and take your mom to her house right now!" Poor fellow, he was sleeping peacefully, and then this! And of all things to say, he sits up and says "Why?" I kicked off my shoes across the room as I screamed "Because I F*ING said so!" Yeah, he didn't mumble another word!
I stripped and crawled into bed and kept sobbing. Really, the force of this cry almost scared me. I couldn't believe it. But I"m sure 10 weeks of stress built up and this was a bit of a release. By the time DH got home, about a half hour later, I was in the shower and finally not crying. I gave him just the bare bones, not wanting to really drag him into it, or give it any more attention than it needed.
Now, it's a week and a half later, I've talked with the niece a bit and given her some of my side, to offset some of MIL's inaccuracies. And I figure I'll just go on as if nothing ever happened. However, I now know that she has some paranoia (thinking I'm calling doctors and family behind her back) and does a fair amount of lying (either intentional, or just out of old age or confusion?) So I will no longer take what she says at face value. Also, I'm of the opinion that I'm not going to work harder to keep her healthy than she is working. So like the Aleve, if she's going to buy it and take it, I'll let her, I'll make notes to let the Doctor's know at her next appointment, but I won't tattle to anyone and I won't try to stop her. DH has said all along that she will try to do stupid things and we can't stop her. I was of the opinion it was our job to do just that. And now, I agree with DH. I'll remind her of things (Like you can't take that Aleve, or go down the stairs by yourself) but when she does it, then that's her choice and I'm not interfering.
She has started asking Sam to take her places and calling her daughter at least once about some doctor thing. But I'll just be acting like nothing happened and moving on. I plan to take her to the appointments I know about, if only to be sure I and the doctor are both getting full and first-hand information.
*sigh* at least it's not MY mom, that would add a whole other emotional, button-pushing level to the "fun" LOL
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Going ok, I guess
Three weeks since the last post, and it's going ok with the MIL. We had one more problem, well a fight almost. She decided to stop using her pill box (where she sets the pills up for a week) and take her meds from the bottles instead, AND instead of taking them in the morning all together, and the blood thinner at night -- she (with her infinite medical wisdom and background *cough cough*) has decided to take them spaced out through the day. I was trying to get her to call the doctor and just confirm that this would be ok -- I mean, he may want the blood pressure pill to be first thing in the morning, not in the afternoon. She got mad and even raised her voice, so I raised my voice back and in the end, *big surprise* she is going to do it her way. I however, am going to count her pills in her pill bottles to try to keep track of whether they are being taken properly. It all boiled down to control really. She doesn't want anyone else in charge of her medicine or telling her how to do them. Not even her doctors it seems. As of the day of the fight, it looks like she has missed two or three blood thinners over the last month, and maybe one of her other pills. But the remaining two looked to be spot on. Let's see where it is in a week or so.
The good news is, we got her a medical alert pendant and she seems to be wearing it whenever I come in. That's great! We're going to get a phone line run in the hallway so the monitoring box can be more centrally located. But for now it's in the living room. When we called to test it, DD said, "have her turn the tv down so they can hear her!" and I said, "Nope, when she really has an emergency the tv will probably be blaring, so let's see if it works with that as background noise" LOL. And it did, hurray!
As far as quilting, yeah, what quilting. I took the Charm Stars off the frame and will be picking out the quilting. I really do want to custom quilt it, and may have an idea that won't involve ten thousand thread colors! So it's worth giving it a try. In the meantime, I have Alexa's wedding gift, a table runner on the frame. It's going really well. I used wool batting so the stitches are showing up really well.
The four patches in the center are getting feathered swirls and curved cross-hatching (above) and the setting triangles are my very first attempt at curved cross-hatching ;) (below)
The wedding colors are mustard and mint, so I didn't use those exact colors, but hopefully the yellow and greens will remind her of the wedding and make this a treasured keepsake. So I'd better take this little bit of free time I have and get some more quilting done, the weddig is at the end of the month and that's getting closer and closer each day.
The good news is, we got her a medical alert pendant and she seems to be wearing it whenever I come in. That's great! We're going to get a phone line run in the hallway so the monitoring box can be more centrally located. But for now it's in the living room. When we called to test it, DD said, "have her turn the tv down so they can hear her!" and I said, "Nope, when she really has an emergency the tv will probably be blaring, so let's see if it works with that as background noise" LOL. And it did, hurray!
As far as quilting, yeah, what quilting. I took the Charm Stars off the frame and will be picking out the quilting. I really do want to custom quilt it, and may have an idea that won't involve ten thousand thread colors! So it's worth giving it a try. In the meantime, I have Alexa's wedding gift, a table runner on the frame. It's going really well. I used wool batting so the stitches are showing up really well.
My favorite though, is the feathered hearts in the diamonds.. There is still some blue wash-out marker visible, but they are still looking beautiful. You can't go wrong with hearts on a wedding gift! I'm going to put the bride and grooms names around the outside in the sashing and the wedding date.The wedding colors are mustard and mint, so I didn't use those exact colors, but hopefully the yellow and greens will remind her of the wedding and make this a treasured keepsake. So I'd better take this little bit of free time I have and get some more quilting done, the weddig is at the end of the month and that's getting closer and closer each day.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Chugging along
Another week is down and it went ok. MIL is going out to the barn to feed the cats without anyone with her. I suspected something was up with the cats out there, because they weren't rushing to meet me when I came to feed them in the evening. Now I know why -- she had already fed them in the morning! We had told, asked and begged her not to go out to the barn by herself, but she is taking those times when DH isn't there and doing it anyway. I guess it's ok because she isn't falling or hurting herself, but I am concerned that it would be so easy for her to misstep or a cat to tangle in her feet and bring her down. Now, the question is: will she actually tell us if she falls when we are not there? I think that she is afraid that if she falls and tells us, the little bit of freedom she has when DH isn't staying there, will be gone.
My mom asked a good question: WHY is she supposed to have 24/7 supervision? I thought it was the blood thinner, but mom pointed out that there are gobs of people on blood thinners who don't have to be supervised all the time. Maybe the Dr's picked up on her stubbornness and the too think that she won't be honest about letting us know if she falls? She was weaker and her balance wasn't 100% when she left the hospital, so that might have been part of it. Maybe the Dr's felt it was too much fall risk for her to be alone? Or maybe her confusion is why? Her confusion is not really from the stroke, she's always been a little slow and gets mixed up easily.
So after thinking this over, I'd like to set up an appointment with the Neurologist to revisit why he wanted her to have 24/7 supervision. Also, at the same appointment, I can bring up driving. She has been talking about "taking classes" and "getting tested" so she can "start driving again." I don't want to have to be the bad guy telling her she'll never drive again. I can handle reminding her about what the doctor said, but I need him to tell her first and really try to get it across to her. Hearing it from more than just her kids, might help her know it's not just us being mean to her. It's really a medical decision.
Not a single bit of quilting has happened at my place :( But, I did learn to crochet last week, yippee! I took my sample swatches that I made over to my crochet neighbor and she said I'm doing great! She said my stitches were nice and even. I made it through single crochet, half-double, double, treble and then circles. I only made little sample swatches as I worked through the lessons in the book I bought. When I got to circles, I was able to make pretty flowers so that was cool! And, I came up with a great way to salvage my favorite skirt!! I spilled some bleach on it last summer when adding chemicals to the pool and it left little dots trailing down one side from the front pocket down to about the back of my knee. It might not have been so bad, but a couple of the dots were about the size of a small lima bean and one of them wore into a hole :( But I'm going to put little crochet flowers and leaves onto the skirt, sort of trailing down the side and around to the back - it will cover the hole and the few spots that are still there, plus it will add some neat dimension and interest to the skirt. This is one of my favorite skirts, so I"m thrilled to be able to make it wearable again (I mean, a middle aged lady just CAN'T go around town in a skirt with a small hole on her tushy!!)
We took the chicks out into the run today so they could enjoy the pretty, warm day. They were a little freaked out about it at first. They just stood there and didn't even move for a couple of minutes - it was funny! But they eventually began walking around, spreading their wings and scratching the ground. I'll try to get some pix added to this post - it's been awhile since I've had pix with a post, and I know they make the posts more fun!
Tonight, we are taking littlest DD to meet up for her first date. She is going to a school get together with a young man from church. The two have been texting for a few months and it's been pretty obvious to everyone at church (heck, even DH noticed!!) that they like each other. So he asked her to go to this event with him (dinner, bowling, scavenger hunt, and another meal to end the night around 2 or 3 in the morning). Now when they first talked about this event, they were both saying the were going "just as friends" But looks like they have had some change of heart as they texted more and spent time together at church. Earlier in the week he messaged me and asked permission to "ask her out" on a "real" date. She thinks he's going to ask her while they are together at the function tonight, and for all intents and purposes, tonight has turned into a date too. She's all atwitter about it, that's for sure! Here are two pix from the night - first is after he gave her "the" note asking her to be his girlfriend (and yep, I still have my first note like that asking me to "go steady" with a boy when I was 15 *sigh*) and the second is the more formal pose that was being taken there.
Ah, isn't first love cute :)
My mom asked a good question: WHY is she supposed to have 24/7 supervision? I thought it was the blood thinner, but mom pointed out that there are gobs of people on blood thinners who don't have to be supervised all the time. Maybe the Dr's picked up on her stubbornness and the too think that she won't be honest about letting us know if she falls? She was weaker and her balance wasn't 100% when she left the hospital, so that might have been part of it. Maybe the Dr's felt it was too much fall risk for her to be alone? Or maybe her confusion is why? Her confusion is not really from the stroke, she's always been a little slow and gets mixed up easily.
So after thinking this over, I'd like to set up an appointment with the Neurologist to revisit why he wanted her to have 24/7 supervision. Also, at the same appointment, I can bring up driving. She has been talking about "taking classes" and "getting tested" so she can "start driving again." I don't want to have to be the bad guy telling her she'll never drive again. I can handle reminding her about what the doctor said, but I need him to tell her first and really try to get it across to her. Hearing it from more than just her kids, might help her know it's not just us being mean to her. It's really a medical decision.
Not a single bit of quilting has happened at my place :( But, I did learn to crochet last week, yippee! I took my sample swatches that I made over to my crochet neighbor and she said I'm doing great! She said my stitches were nice and even. I made it through single crochet, half-double, double, treble and then circles. I only made little sample swatches as I worked through the lessons in the book I bought. When I got to circles, I was able to make pretty flowers so that was cool! And, I came up with a great way to salvage my favorite skirt!! I spilled some bleach on it last summer when adding chemicals to the pool and it left little dots trailing down one side from the front pocket down to about the back of my knee. It might not have been so bad, but a couple of the dots were about the size of a small lima bean and one of them wore into a hole :( But I'm going to put little crochet flowers and leaves onto the skirt, sort of trailing down the side and around to the back - it will cover the hole and the few spots that are still there, plus it will add some neat dimension and interest to the skirt. This is one of my favorite skirts, so I"m thrilled to be able to make it wearable again (I mean, a middle aged lady just CAN'T go around town in a skirt with a small hole on her tushy!!)
We took the chicks out into the run today so they could enjoy the pretty, warm day. They were a little freaked out about it at first. They just stood there and didn't even move for a couple of minutes - it was funny! But they eventually began walking around, spreading their wings and scratching the ground. I'll try to get some pix added to this post - it's been awhile since I've had pix with a post, and I know they make the posts more fun!
Tonight, we are taking littlest DD to meet up for her first date. She is going to a school get together with a young man from church. The two have been texting for a few months and it's been pretty obvious to everyone at church (heck, even DH noticed!!) that they like each other. So he asked her to go to this event with him (dinner, bowling, scavenger hunt, and another meal to end the night around 2 or 3 in the morning). Now when they first talked about this event, they were both saying the were going "just as friends" But looks like they have had some change of heart as they texted more and spent time together at church. Earlier in the week he messaged me and asked permission to "ask her out" on a "real" date. She thinks he's going to ask her while they are together at the function tonight, and for all intents and purposes, tonight has turned into a date too. She's all atwitter about it, that's for sure! Here are two pix from the night - first is after he gave her "the" note asking her to be his girlfriend (and yep, I still have my first note like that asking me to "go steady" with a boy when I was 15 *sigh*) and the second is the more formal pose that was being taken there.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Going ok, so far . . . . .
Well, we took over caring for MIL on the 24th of Feb. and the first week went pretty great really. Our only hiccup came at the end of the week. When I came to her house Friday evening we were going to set up her pills for the week. Only 4 of the 5 bottles were on the table. I looked and looked (even crawling under the table on my hands and knees!) but couldn't find it. Then I got the idea to look in the trash. BINGO! There was the bottle with the label torn off, and a little more digging found 5 pills. DD was there and she dug around for the rest of them. Luckily it was all paper garbage, not coffee grounds or tuna fish cans, LOL. When asked if she threw them out, of course MIL said "no." And I asked if she had any idea how they got there, "No." I spent some time trying to explain why these were important (it was her Crestor) and she gave me her reasons why she shouldn't be taking it anymore. Really great stuff like "I'm allergic to it and the family Dr. knows it, he took me off Crestor years ago and told me I'd never have to take it again" Mind you, she admitted into the hospital with it as one of her "current meds." So that doesn't really hold up. Then she tried, "It's the same as this other one (because they are both light peach in color!) so I can't take them both!" Basically, she just convinced herself that she wasn't going to take them and wasn't going to listen to anything I had to say. I asked if she would throw them away again if I left them there and she said "Probably." So I took them when I left that night. She had an appointment with the family doctor coming up the next Wednesday. I looked online and there aren't any horrible side effects from going off it cold turkey, so I decided to let it go until we saw the Doctor.
At that appointment, he said all the same things I said. Those side effects were not from the medication. She's tired and dizzy from the AFib, not the Crestor. And Crestor doesn't cause a rash. She still didn't care and wasn't going to accept it. He told her to take it for 3 or 4 days more and if there were side effects that were bad, then she could set it aside. She told DD later when asked about the appointment, "Only 4 more days!" With a chuckle. So what SHE heard is, "take it for 4 more days, then you can quit." *sigh*
The other problem is that DH & I don't see eye to eye on keeping someone there 24/7. He thinks it's fine to let her be alone and if she has a fall or a problem she can just call us. This is crazy because it depends on her 1. calling for help - which she never, never does. 2. being honest about how she is feeling, which she also never, never does and again, calling for help when she is not feeling well. 3. following the "rules" about not going outside without anyone, using her cane, no stairs, etc. So I am still going over for all my "shifts" and just hanging out. But now, in only the second week of this, he is going on Thursday and Friday morning for a short visit and then coming home and going to bed. So she is alone from, say, 9am until I get there around 5pm. *another sigh* I understand his problem with being there, he is not getting enough sleep and has fallen asleep at work - that could get him fired! But, yesterday he did this for the first time, and she went outside alone and got the mail and paper. Luckily, no falls or incidents, but next time? Who knows?
He says I'm not listening to him, when he says we don't need to be there 24/7, but I also think he's not hearing me. He gets upset because he says my questioning his plan is saying I'm saying he doesn't "know" his mom. But you know, in a way I don't think he does. He knows she is stubborn, and he knows she is determined, but he doesn't seem to know that this stubborn determined thing takes its form in her throwing away medication and going out to the road. And she doesn't regret either one of those examples. She would do them again - heck, she's alone today, maybe she DID go out to the mailbox. What if she had thrown away her blood thinner instead of cholesterol medicine? What if I hadn't noticed? How long before another stroke? And God help us, what if this one was bigger? He tells her THAT, but she is like most people, thinking "Oh, that won't happen to me, I'll be fine." And that's the part he is disconnected from. She thinks "Oh, it's just down the sidewalk, to the mailbox. There's no snow or ice, I have my cane . . . . I'll be just fine, nothing will happen." But you know what, falls happen, accidents happen. We aren't at her house to "give care" but mostly just to "be there in case." And yes, it does feel like a lot of wasted time. Nothing happens and we aren't needed. I sit there for 10 hours on her couch listening to TV shows I don't like (CSI, NCIS, Law & Order Special Victims & Criminal Minds -- SOOOO Depressing and dark! I hate even just hearing it & having it in my brain!!!!) and hand quilting or doing our bills & budgets. Just busywork, not really accomplishing anything.
So, now we head into our second weekend - DD & I will both be gone all day tomorrow (7:30am to 5 or 6pm) and MIL will be at our house for the day. I'll be interested to hear how it goes, what happens. Poor her though, DH will be watching what he likes, so it's "mountain men" - type reality shows for her all day, LOL.
Of course, my quilting isn't getting done, so the charm quilt didn't make it to the Bloomington show, heck, it only has about 2 passes done. I'm just doing a meandering feather all over the pieced section, rather than more custom quilting. The thread colors were just going to be a nightmare with all the different color fabrics. I have a pretty table runner that's pieced and ready to quilt as a wedding gift for a gal at church. Her wedding is at the end of April. It's in greens and mustard yellows. She likes those colors. I'm going to quilt in their names and the wedding date so it will be a special keepsake for them!
I also have the superhero t-shirt quilt to quilt up. The backing is going to be great, and I can't wait to return it to Sonya and see her reaction!
At that appointment, he said all the same things I said. Those side effects were not from the medication. She's tired and dizzy from the AFib, not the Crestor. And Crestor doesn't cause a rash. She still didn't care and wasn't going to accept it. He told her to take it for 3 or 4 days more and if there were side effects that were bad, then she could set it aside. She told DD later when asked about the appointment, "Only 4 more days!" With a chuckle. So what SHE heard is, "take it for 4 more days, then you can quit." *sigh*
The other problem is that DH & I don't see eye to eye on keeping someone there 24/7. He thinks it's fine to let her be alone and if she has a fall or a problem she can just call us. This is crazy because it depends on her 1. calling for help - which she never, never does. 2. being honest about how she is feeling, which she also never, never does and again, calling for help when she is not feeling well. 3. following the "rules" about not going outside without anyone, using her cane, no stairs, etc. So I am still going over for all my "shifts" and just hanging out. But now, in only the second week of this, he is going on Thursday and Friday morning for a short visit and then coming home and going to bed. So she is alone from, say, 9am until I get there around 5pm. *another sigh* I understand his problem with being there, he is not getting enough sleep and has fallen asleep at work - that could get him fired! But, yesterday he did this for the first time, and she went outside alone and got the mail and paper. Luckily, no falls or incidents, but next time? Who knows?
He says I'm not listening to him, when he says we don't need to be there 24/7, but I also think he's not hearing me. He gets upset because he says my questioning his plan is saying I'm saying he doesn't "know" his mom. But you know, in a way I don't think he does. He knows she is stubborn, and he knows she is determined, but he doesn't seem to know that this stubborn determined thing takes its form in her throwing away medication and going out to the road. And she doesn't regret either one of those examples. She would do them again - heck, she's alone today, maybe she DID go out to the mailbox. What if she had thrown away her blood thinner instead of cholesterol medicine? What if I hadn't noticed? How long before another stroke? And God help us, what if this one was bigger? He tells her THAT, but she is like most people, thinking "Oh, that won't happen to me, I'll be fine." And that's the part he is disconnected from. She thinks "Oh, it's just down the sidewalk, to the mailbox. There's no snow or ice, I have my cane . . . . I'll be just fine, nothing will happen." But you know what, falls happen, accidents happen. We aren't at her house to "give care" but mostly just to "be there in case." And yes, it does feel like a lot of wasted time. Nothing happens and we aren't needed. I sit there for 10 hours on her couch listening to TV shows I don't like (CSI, NCIS, Law & Order Special Victims & Criminal Minds -- SOOOO Depressing and dark! I hate even just hearing it & having it in my brain!!!!) and hand quilting or doing our bills & budgets. Just busywork, not really accomplishing anything.
So, now we head into our second weekend - DD & I will both be gone all day tomorrow (7:30am to 5 or 6pm) and MIL will be at our house for the day. I'll be interested to hear how it goes, what happens. Poor her though, DH will be watching what he likes, so it's "mountain men" - type reality shows for her all day, LOL.
Of course, my quilting isn't getting done, so the charm quilt didn't make it to the Bloomington show, heck, it only has about 2 passes done. I'm just doing a meandering feather all over the pieced section, rather than more custom quilting. The thread colors were just going to be a nightmare with all the different color fabrics. I have a pretty table runner that's pieced and ready to quilt as a wedding gift for a gal at church. Her wedding is at the end of April. It's in greens and mustard yellows. She likes those colors. I'm going to quilt in their names and the wedding date so it will be a special keepsake for them!
I also have the superhero t-shirt quilt to quilt up. The backing is going to be great, and I can't wait to return it to Sonya and see her reaction!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
And . . . . we've reached that first big bridge!
When MIL came home after her two weeks in the hospital, Sister-in-Law and her husband moved in to give her 24 hour a day supervision. Seemed like an ok plan at the time. But, in a nutshell, their personalities are not working well together. There was another blow up on Monday this week. I went to her house to take over for the day. We got to therapies and even a short Wal-Mart trip. SIL & hubby showed back up at 7:30 and delivered the news that they were "done" and now it was our "turn." *sigh*
So, I let my DH know all the developments and he headed to work for the night. Yesterday at dinner time we got to talk finally. We think we have puzzled out a solution. Our goal is to provide 24 hour supervision for MIL, and keep her in her own home. I will see if work can change my schedule so that I only work on Thursday and Friday (but long days, 8 - 5.) That will let me be at her house Mon - Wed from 7am to 5 pm. DH will come from 5pm to 9pm when he goes to work, and middle DD will take the overnight and sleep there. She will leave and go to school at 7am. On Thursday and Friday, we reverse - DH comes to his mom's straight from work and stays 7:30am to 5:30pm. I come after I get off work and take 5:30 to when middle DD gets there, about 9 or 10pm depending on her work schedule. Saturday is the only problem day. Our schedules are too unpredictable - so we'll have middle DD bring her over to our house after they get up, and she'll stay at our house for the day. Saturday night, middle DD & MIL go back to her house to sleep (or I take her there and wait on DD to get there from work, that is sometimes a late shift for her.) Sunday, middle DD stays on through the afternoon, then I come over and stay till middle DD is off work at 9 or 10 pm again. Only hitch with Sunday is, MIL will have to go to church with us. She may not like that, but there isn't anyone available to watch her during that time. Sometimes DS may be able to do it, if he is off on Sunday. So that will be a flexible thing.
SO, that's our plan. Does it sound as crazy to you, my friendly reader, as it does to me?? My only REAL concern is that my house will fall apart. I will only have a couple of hours a day to keep up with dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, errands and my quilting business.
My first step is to copy her insurance cards and find out if insurance will cover anyone coming in to help out. If we could get a caregiver for a couple times a week, maybe 4 hours or so, that would give me time to run errands and get groceries.
Honestly, my brain knows this is long-term, for as long as we have her or her situation changes for the worse. But realistically, I'm only looking at it in chunks of a few weeks. Of course, when summer comes and our youngest DD is out of school, she might help out a little too. Especially when you remember that Gr'ma has air conditioning, and we don't LOL.
On a personal front, I have been at my best. Feeling better than I can remember. I quit drinking Diet Coke around Christmas, and I've been drinking tons of water. I'm watching what and how much I'm eating, not eating anything after 8pm and have even lost weight - I was down to 133.8 on Tuesday (but didn't eat much since I was with MIL all day Wednesday, so it won't stay, LOL) My depression is more under control than maybe ever. I switched to generic on my Rx at the first of the year. So, probably a combination of all these things have added up to better health -- and just in the nick of time! I'll need to be in best form to take on caring for MIL.
Quilting, well, it's ok. I cleared my February calendar so that I could work on my scrappy stars for our bed. It's huge -- king size. I was hoping to put it in the Bloomington quilt show, but it won't be done in time. It's on the frame and getting feathers meandered in the main area. Not sure what I'll do in the outer border, but I think I'll be doing some trapunto flowers, vines and leave. I have a couple of customers in line to call first of March, or sooner if I get mine done before then. I was invited to present a program at the evening guild on Trapunto. I was super nervous, but it went well and was even fun. I've been meaning to join the evening guild for some time, and maybe now is the time, since it will be harder to get to the morning guild and find someone to be with MIL because that's a therapy and doctor appt. day. I know I need to find a way to keep a few fun outlets in my schedule if at all possible, I'll need some things to blow off steam and relieve stress :0) Heck, maybe I'll even vent, oops, I mean post in this blog more!
So, I let my DH know all the developments and he headed to work for the night. Yesterday at dinner time we got to talk finally. We think we have puzzled out a solution. Our goal is to provide 24 hour supervision for MIL, and keep her in her own home. I will see if work can change my schedule so that I only work on Thursday and Friday (but long days, 8 - 5.) That will let me be at her house Mon - Wed from 7am to 5 pm. DH will come from 5pm to 9pm when he goes to work, and middle DD will take the overnight and sleep there. She will leave and go to school at 7am. On Thursday and Friday, we reverse - DH comes to his mom's straight from work and stays 7:30am to 5:30pm. I come after I get off work and take 5:30 to when middle DD gets there, about 9 or 10pm depending on her work schedule. Saturday is the only problem day. Our schedules are too unpredictable - so we'll have middle DD bring her over to our house after they get up, and she'll stay at our house for the day. Saturday night, middle DD & MIL go back to her house to sleep (or I take her there and wait on DD to get there from work, that is sometimes a late shift for her.) Sunday, middle DD stays on through the afternoon, then I come over and stay till middle DD is off work at 9 or 10 pm again. Only hitch with Sunday is, MIL will have to go to church with us. She may not like that, but there isn't anyone available to watch her during that time. Sometimes DS may be able to do it, if he is off on Sunday. So that will be a flexible thing.
SO, that's our plan. Does it sound as crazy to you, my friendly reader, as it does to me?? My only REAL concern is that my house will fall apart. I will only have a couple of hours a day to keep up with dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, errands and my quilting business.
My first step is to copy her insurance cards and find out if insurance will cover anyone coming in to help out. If we could get a caregiver for a couple times a week, maybe 4 hours or so, that would give me time to run errands and get groceries.
Honestly, my brain knows this is long-term, for as long as we have her or her situation changes for the worse. But realistically, I'm only looking at it in chunks of a few weeks. Of course, when summer comes and our youngest DD is out of school, she might help out a little too. Especially when you remember that Gr'ma has air conditioning, and we don't LOL.
On a personal front, I have been at my best. Feeling better than I can remember. I quit drinking Diet Coke around Christmas, and I've been drinking tons of water. I'm watching what and how much I'm eating, not eating anything after 8pm and have even lost weight - I was down to 133.8 on Tuesday (but didn't eat much since I was with MIL all day Wednesday, so it won't stay, LOL) My depression is more under control than maybe ever. I switched to generic on my Rx at the first of the year. So, probably a combination of all these things have added up to better health -- and just in the nick of time! I'll need to be in best form to take on caring for MIL.
Quilting, well, it's ok. I cleared my February calendar so that I could work on my scrappy stars for our bed. It's huge -- king size. I was hoping to put it in the Bloomington quilt show, but it won't be done in time. It's on the frame and getting feathers meandered in the main area. Not sure what I'll do in the outer border, but I think I'll be doing some trapunto flowers, vines and leave. I have a couple of customers in line to call first of March, or sooner if I get mine done before then. I was invited to present a program at the evening guild on Trapunto. I was super nervous, but it went well and was even fun. I've been meaning to join the evening guild for some time, and maybe now is the time, since it will be harder to get to the morning guild and find someone to be with MIL because that's a therapy and doctor appt. day. I know I need to find a way to keep a few fun outlets in my schedule if at all possible, I'll need some things to blow off steam and relieve stress :0) Heck, maybe I'll even vent, oops, I mean post in this blog more!
Thursday, January 16, 2014
January came in like a LION!
WOW! After a nice, and fairly uneventful Christmas (but my camera was misplaced, so no photos BOO!) January came down on us like a ton of bricks. I was actually sick with a stomach bug right before Christmas, it lasted 4 miserable days. Ellen got it right after, and had it for almost a week, then Tim got it! It lingered with him for just over a week. I think they had trouble kicking it because they were trying to eat or at least nibble a bit. I didn't get better until I gave up and went to fluids only for the day - then I was better in the morning. Same for Ellen, finally. Tim never did take the step of fluids only and I'm sure that's why it was so hard to get over it.
Christmas was really nice. Marci asked for luggage from Santa, almost as odd as crutches, yes? Max wanted new work shoes. He needed them, and so we picked them out together at Kohl's. We were there together so I could help him shop for Marci. He had a great gift for Ellen, but was stumped on Marci. He ended up getting her a pretty scarf there and a tote for her hair curlers & straighteners when she travels. She loved them so it was great! Ellen got a gift certificate for Kohl's to pick out some clothes. She has fallen in love with sweaters, and Santa could have picked some out and given her that, but "he" thought she'd enjoy picking out her own (and lower prices at after Christmas sales would stretch "his" budget.)
But then January came and life changed. Tim's mom went into the hospital on the 8th and they determined she'd had some small strokes. They can't say how many exactly, but two areas of her brain were affected, and the areas were larger than the doctor's expected when they looked at the MRI. She was really lucky though - not much damage is evident. She is slightly weaker on her left side (10% in her hand grip) and has to think a bit longer to answer questions or participate in conversations - I'd say she will walk away with about a 5% reduction in thinking and in using her left side -- to too darn bad, and probably not noticable except by those who are around her all the time. She is still in the hospital, but got to move up to the rehab floor on the 10th. There was a setback on Sunday. I was there and stayed through the night. She had us pretty worried! She was unrepsonsive, hard to wake up & running a fever of 101.5. They did a chest xray, it was clean, and then a CAT scan and it was clean too. Thought it might be a urinary tract infection and began antibiotics. She was also very dehydrated - they could barely get the IV started. It took three nurses, one of them the nursing supervisor for the hospital! The next morning, the Doctor thought it was probably asperative pnuemonia and added another antibiotic. That seemed to get her doing better. She actually did her therapies on Monday, which amazed the previous night's nurses and aids!! We would never have believed we were even going to get her out of bed, much less walking and talking!
Of course this means I've been having lots of interaction with Tim's sister & husband. Never fun and usually pretty frustrating. But, I've been working hard to take a step back and let them take the lead, let them answer the Dr.'s questions, let them monopolize conversations, etc. It's hard, I'm not sure all my toungue is still intact after biting it so much LOL. But it's been good for me. It's paying off at home too, I'm interrupting less and listening more. The sister & BIL plan to move into Tootie's house and live there. They are hoping their daughter and soon-to-be SIL will move into their house to keep it lived in. Tim thinks SIL is not on board with that plan, and if he has enough gumption, they'll say no and stay put. The back up plan then is that sis & BIL will still move into Tootie's house, but their son (20) will stay back at their house and a friend/cousin (not sure :/) will move in with him and those two will keep up the house (LOL!!) I see a whole road of disasters ahead with both of the plans, but I'm practicing my "butt out" ability. Actually, the mantra I've been using is "Just because I know the answer/information, doesn't mean they want/need to hear it from me" - that will shut you up in a jiffy ;)
So, we're taking it little by little, and crossing bridges as we get there. So far it's going well enough. Stay tuned.
Christmas was really nice. Marci asked for luggage from Santa, almost as odd as crutches, yes? Max wanted new work shoes. He needed them, and so we picked them out together at Kohl's. We were there together so I could help him shop for Marci. He had a great gift for Ellen, but was stumped on Marci. He ended up getting her a pretty scarf there and a tote for her hair curlers & straighteners when she travels. She loved them so it was great! Ellen got a gift certificate for Kohl's to pick out some clothes. She has fallen in love with sweaters, and Santa could have picked some out and given her that, but "he" thought she'd enjoy picking out her own (and lower prices at after Christmas sales would stretch "his" budget.)
But then January came and life changed. Tim's mom went into the hospital on the 8th and they determined she'd had some small strokes. They can't say how many exactly, but two areas of her brain were affected, and the areas were larger than the doctor's expected when they looked at the MRI. She was really lucky though - not much damage is evident. She is slightly weaker on her left side (10% in her hand grip) and has to think a bit longer to answer questions or participate in conversations - I'd say she will walk away with about a 5% reduction in thinking and in using her left side -- to too darn bad, and probably not noticable except by those who are around her all the time. She is still in the hospital, but got to move up to the rehab floor on the 10th. There was a setback on Sunday. I was there and stayed through the night. She had us pretty worried! She was unrepsonsive, hard to wake up & running a fever of 101.5. They did a chest xray, it was clean, and then a CAT scan and it was clean too. Thought it might be a urinary tract infection and began antibiotics. She was also very dehydrated - they could barely get the IV started. It took three nurses, one of them the nursing supervisor for the hospital! The next morning, the Doctor thought it was probably asperative pnuemonia and added another antibiotic. That seemed to get her doing better. She actually did her therapies on Monday, which amazed the previous night's nurses and aids!! We would never have believed we were even going to get her out of bed, much less walking and talking!
Of course this means I've been having lots of interaction with Tim's sister & husband. Never fun and usually pretty frustrating. But, I've been working hard to take a step back and let them take the lead, let them answer the Dr.'s questions, let them monopolize conversations, etc. It's hard, I'm not sure all my toungue is still intact after biting it so much LOL. But it's been good for me. It's paying off at home too, I'm interrupting less and listening more. The sister & BIL plan to move into Tootie's house and live there. They are hoping their daughter and soon-to-be SIL will move into their house to keep it lived in. Tim thinks SIL is not on board with that plan, and if he has enough gumption, they'll say no and stay put. The back up plan then is that sis & BIL will still move into Tootie's house, but their son (20) will stay back at their house and a friend/cousin (not sure :/) will move in with him and those two will keep up the house (LOL!!) I see a whole road of disasters ahead with both of the plans, but I'm practicing my "butt out" ability. Actually, the mantra I've been using is "Just because I know the answer/information, doesn't mean they want/need to hear it from me" - that will shut you up in a jiffy ;)
So, we're taking it little by little, and crossing bridges as we get there. So far it's going well enough. Stay tuned.
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