Sunday, July 31, 2016

I Have Excuses

I have excuses for not blogging.  Things have just been way too busy. I did go on my college girls weekend. That was fun.  My brother in law and his family were here this week. The rented a cottage on a nearby lake.   Yesterday, we moved the remaining of my moms stuff out of the assisted living/memory care. I am not planning on moving her from the nursing home.  I think that is now the best place for her.  It is a very nice nursing home. Staff bring their dogs to work and there is a resident cat.

The internet hasn't been working very well today and has been kind of sketchy the last few weeks.

Thanks everyone for the kind words of support. I really appreciate it.

Promise I will have some picture updates on projects by the end of the week..

Keep on stitching and have a wonderful week!

Monica

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Bumbywump

The word of the day Bumbywump.
Means "I have had a shitty week."
It started at 5:10 Saturday morning when I got a call from the Memory Care that my mom was on the floor.  She fell trying to go to the bathroom and couldn't get up.  She had a broken hip.  
She had surgery on Sunday, three screws and could but as much weight on it as tolerated.  
It was a horrible time in pre-op.  
Anesthesiologist (A):  I see she is a DNR.  Does that mean in the OR?
Me:  Yes.  She does not want to be on a vent.  Can you tell me she won't be on a vent?
A:  No I can't.  Her lungs are in bad shape so if we have to intubate her it is not likely she will come off a vent.
Me:  Then she does not want to be intubated.
A:  If the spinal doesn't work she will live the rest of life in horrible pain.  We will not be able to do surgery.  
Me:  Then we use pain medication
A:  You know that when she is on pain medication her SAT levels are dangerously low.
Me:  Yes, I know that.  It will be okay.  

The spinal worked, she didn't even need any conscious sedation because she had been up all night pulling her IV's out.....Bumbywump.  

She made it through the surgery and is now at a nursing home for rehab.  
She was sort of okay mentally on Saturday and Sunday before she started to sundown syndrome.  
Monday and Tuesday she was more confused.  
When she went to the NH on Tuesday, I spent 2 hours minimum wheeling her around to stop her from trying to get up.....Bumbywump
Today, Katy and I went to see her.  We talked to the nurse who said she must have escaped after breakfast and was found in the chapel sitting on the floor on her wheelchair cushion.  Must have slid out of her chair....I'm sure she did.  She hadn't hurt anything.  She was doing better today than yesterday.  
We sat with her after lunch and she looked at me and said, "Bumbywump."  I repeated it and she just laughed.  
I think I like it, Bumbywump.  
They are moving her to the Memory Care locked unit tomorrow...HOORAY!!

And now, for something completely different.
I finished my BBD now I need to finish it.  
Maybe when things settle down.  
 I am working on Prairie Schooler Summer Breeze.  
Haven't had much time to work on it.  
I have my college girls weekend.  Good thing it wasn't last weekend.  I'm going and plan on drinking some wine.

Hope your week wasn't Bumbywump.
Keep on Stitching
Monica

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Damn Deer! and I Love Michael's

My petunias are looking great!
But, the on Tuesday morning when I got up, I noticed something was amiss.  
 The flowers on three pots were gone.  
Bob thought it was from the rainstorm the night before.  
Nope!
Not what I thought
 It had to be deer. 
There are deer in the neighborhood.  
And they like petunias.
The reason I don't plant them in the front of the house.  
Our back yard is fenced in for the dogs but, its only a four foot fence. 
 I did a little research and found a concoction of ingredients that I have on hand.
I boiled water and dissolved garlic powder, added some Louisana Hot sauce because I didn't have cayenne on hand and figured this or Siracha sauce would work.  
I cooled it down and added an egg.  
I put it in a spray and spray them if they have been rained or water. 
Buds are starting to come back and the deer haven't eaten the other pots.  
 I have blogged about my love affair with the Prairie Schooler.  
I haven't done one in a while so, I have been going through withdrawl.  
I decided to do some of these.  
I acquired this one not too long ago.  
Love the pea
pods at the top of the first one.  


I love the colors of the fall one and the squirrels at the bottom corner of the first one.  
 
The thing is, I frame much of my stuff myself unless it is really big.
I new what size frames I needed and usually the three snap shot collage frames work really well. 
I went to Walmart one night, which is such a penance for me because I really try and avoid that store.  
I looked on line for parts and figured I could get a frame from American Frame for $20 which is not a bad price.
I looked at Michael's on line but, the ones they had like the Walmart ones now have a wooden divider between each picture spot not like the matt the older ones do.  
We were in Milwaukee for a doctor's appointment and afterwards stopped at Michaels. 
I found the best frames!!!
Outside dimension 9x16 inside dimensions 7x14.
I can work with that!!
I just have to decide on what count of fabric and away I go!!
The best part was BOGO free and I have a coupon for 40% off the third one.  
I can interchange the pictures for the season.  
Why spend all that money.  
I got all three frames for $27 not including tax.
My friend did one of the pictures and having it professionally framed for $45 including a family discount.  
WeeHeeeee!
Need to get the supplies in line, especially the fabric.  
I finished the BBD. saving for the next post and I'm working on a different PS one.  
And tomorrow is FRIDAY!

Have a great weekend
Keep on Stitching
Monica

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Before and After

I showed you this picture last week of my sewing room closet the business side.

 I had bought some more of the dark weave baskets at JoAnn's last week.  
I did some organization yesterday.  
I would like to pick up a couple more of the large ones and maybe another couple of small ones.
This is how it looks after I did a little work.  
 Instead of taking the price tags off, I decided to use them for labels until I buy some permanent ones.
Then again, I might just use them and cover up the price with a star or something.  
Kind of matches the color on the photo boxes I have to store my overdyes in.  
My parents were products of the depression.  
My dad was born in 1926 and my mom in 1927...on the same day...weird uh?
I have never seen a picture of my dad before high school.  
His parents were Polish immigrants and he was a first born American.
My grandfather was a miner and from all accounts not a very nice man.  
I'm not sure who took the picture, maybe his oldest sister who moved out at the age of 17 possibly before he was born.  
I got the picture from her son and daughter-in-law and it is the first baby picture I have ever seen of him. 
We have a few pictures of my mom when she was a little girl but, none of my dad until this one.  
The freaky thing is how much my son looks like him at that age.  
Ed in the one in the foreground.  
Do you think I could edit these pictures?
Absolutely not!

 Since this is a stitching blog, the update on my latest BBD project.  

That about sums it up for another week.  Hope you had a great weekend.  They go by way too fast!
Have a wonderful week.
Keep on Stitching
Monica

Monday, July 4, 2016

Happy Fourth Of July

Happy Fourth of July.  
This is a small piece I did several years ago.  
Don't know exactly when.  
 The beauty of having a three day weekend is when all the usual weekenI use the fd stuff that you need to get done because you work, you still have ONE MORE DAY!!!!
That started me thinking about the closet in my sewing room.  
The room its self is a disaster.  
Katy has some of the overflow from her room in there a.k.a. also know as yarn stash.  
That's okay for now.  
The closet is a mess and maybe some day it would be better without the closet doors on it.
I still can use this room for company because there is a sleeper sofa in it. 
 I use the photo storage boxes for my overdyes and keep them in floss keeper bags, alphabetically by
brand.  
I did buy some different baskets at Joann's a while ago, the two dark brown ones on the top shelf.  
I got two more that size this weekend and two smaller ones to reorganize and sort.  
Uniformity works for me.  
The one thing I wish my house had was a linen closet, a BIG one.  
I have storage in the bathrooms but, not for big things like pillows and extra blankets.  
They end up in the closets.  
There is stuff like that in this closet.  
Maybe this will all help and make it look more neat and pretty.  

 Finally,  I am working on BBD Summer Garden.
It is the latest in the Prim Stitchers Club from Dying to Stitch.  
I am way behind on all those kits.  
I found a bunch this morning while rummaging around in the closet.  
It is finished as a floss holder.  
More to follow
Hope you had a great weekend and a wonderful Fourth!
Keep on Stitching....battery is about to die and I'm outside.  UGH! 
Monica