Okay, I'm a bad blogger

     I haven't blogged in over a week.  I'm a bad blogger.  I"m sorry, what can I say.  Life (or Two Moons) just got in the way.  I've been busy though, with other things as well.  I have so much to say, I don't know where to start.  Boy.

     I guess today I'll start with mom.  She had a migraine yesterday from the new heart medicine they have her on.  It got rid of the chest pains, but gave her the migraine.  She's not willing to make the trade off (and I can't blame her), so her doctor took her off of it.  IDK what they're gonna do now.  He thinks one of the smaller arteries near the heart is clogged and that's what's causing the pain.  IDK what this med does that it would stop the pain, but it did.  Some days...  I'll keep you all updated.  We seem to be out of the really scary woods though.  So thanks to all who said a prayer for her.  I'm so grateful for all of you that sent their healing thoughts and energies as it has turned out well.  So thanks!!!

     And I'm so proud of myself.  On Saturday, David had a cross town shootout party.  (The crosstown shootout is a basketball game between Xavier University and University of Cincinnati.  It's a HEATED rivalry, as many of you saw on the nightly news.)  Anyways, he invited a friend of his from work, his wife, and their two kids, Amy's sister, her dh, and their two kids, Amy's mom and dad, and mom and I.  I told him I probably wouldn't go.  Too many new people for me.  But I did, and I didn't embarrass him (which was my main concern).  When I get nervous, I talk a lot (about anything that comes into my head, good taste or not) or else I go silent.  I was very quiet, but I was there for about forty five minutes.  (I went pretty late.)  He said he was proud of me, mom said she was too.  It wasn't fun for me, but I did it.  And thank God it's over, lol.  I won't be doing that again anytime soon!

     Then David and Amy went downtown for a birthday celebration.  Amy's friend just turned thirty and they were going to a little bar a block up from her house.  They decided to stay the night down town (so they could get slightly sloshed, I'm sure) and so David asked me to come over around two and let the dog out.  I said sure.  Got to his house at two oh five.  Dog wanted to play.  Not with a toy though.  Oh, no, not Vin.  When David plays with him, he gets down on his hands and knees and they roughhouse.  That's what he wanted.  I was unable to oblige him.  I can't kneel on my poor abused knees, so it was out of the question.  He kept charging me, and I kept throwing toys out of the toy basket.  He kept ignoring them.  Finally, I went into the laundry room and got him a greenie.  Then he was a happy pupper dog.  It was so cute.  I didn't get home till after four AM though!!!  I worked on Queen of Peace, and he ate and drank (he won't eat with no one around) and then I took him out an hour or so later and let him potty.  David got home about ten, and he was a happy dog.

     While at the party, I noticed something on Amy's hand.  You guessed it, she has an engagement ring!!!!!  While I'm thrilled for them, I'm a little hurt that he didn't call me to tell me.  They've decided on a very small wedding, so I doubt I'll be invited.  She's already had the big shebang, and David's very private.  He probably wouldn't want me to announce it on my blog, lol.  (I can see a big party to celebrate at a later time though.)  I'm so happy for them both.  So I called David this week and asked to talk to Amy.  He was hesitant to hand over the phone when I told him girl talk.  He said, "You don't DO girl talk," lol.  I said in this case, I do.  I offered to let her pick out the wedding sampler.  I know she'll appreciate it, unlike my sister.  So she's gonna call me some time when she has some free time and we'll look at wedding samplers.  But I gave her a big hug to welcome her to the family.  And yay, at least half of my in-laws like me!!  I'll have to try and get a piccy of them together.  Maybe at Christmas...

     Speaking of Christmas, I'm almost done shopping.  I have Julie and Rosa to get (both are pissing me off) and Cathy and Jim.  I already know what I'm getting Cathy and Jim.  Rosa and Julie though....  I say, "What do you want for Christmas," and they say, "IDK..."  Grrrrrrrr......   That doesn't help me!!!!!!  Julie may just get a payment made on her layaway at HAED and Rosa IDK.  Maybe I'll make her an ornie.  It won't be done by Christmas, but she likes to decorate, sooooo...  We'll see if either of them come up with anything for me.

     And now for the eye candy.  I have progress piccys of all four of my projects.  I'll start with my ornie as it's been my biggest pain.  Literally.  You can see it here.

  It's been hard on my hand.  I start stitching in hand, and I HAVE to hold the fabby nice and taut.  The problem with this is that my hand starts to cramp after only a few minutes.  I hate it.  So I can work for ten or fifteen minutes and then I have to take a break.  It really sucks.  So this is actually two weeks worth of progress.  IDK how I did it while watching HP and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, but I stitched the whole time.  Maybe it was crampy and I just didn't notice...  IDK.  So that's my small progress on the ornie.  I may actually get it done for Christmas, but I doubt it.

     Next up is Jesus.  You can see him here.

  He's much more manageable now that I'm working on his clothing and his hair.  No more frogging every week, yay.  It's working out well doing him on Thursdays and Sundays.  I'm getting lots done.  I really don't think he'll be done for Christmas, but shortly afterwards.  She still doesn't know about it.  He he he, and I have the rep in my family for not being able to keep a secret!!!  She's gonna be shocked, lol.  I've kept the secret since May!  I told her in May that I was getting her something for Mother's Day, but it wasn't here yet.  (This was true at the time.  The fact that I had no intentions of giving it to her till I embroidered on it doesn't matter, lol.)  She promptly forgot about it.  So I have two pressies in one for her.  I got a long white tube (the sort they store documents in) and I'm gonna roll it up and put it in there for her.  I got the idea from Jill Rensel.  She's gonna be framing my DGM and I thought I would use her idea for mom.  Of course, this means I'll be wrapping it up on Christmas day, but hey, can't win them all!!!

      Next is Tree of Stitches.  It's turning out good.  Part five was Rice Stitch, and I finished them all off.  Progress is here.

  I actually did most of this at the doctor's office.  I had an appointment with my case manager on Tuesday, and I took it with me.  I got there at about two forty and checked in with the receptionist.  She called back to let Heather know I was there.  Then she calls my name, and so I go up to the window.  She asks if I knew my appointment was at four.  I was like, "Um..."  So I decided to stay and work on ToS and so I got a lot done.  I was very pleased with it.  Part six is Cushion Stitch, which looks like it's gonna be very tedious.  You basically use diagonal stitches to make a square shape, then go over top and cross half of the square.  Kinda weird, but okay.  So I have that ready to go for next week.

     And lastly, but certainly not least, is Queen of Peace.  It's really coming along well.  I've spent a lot of time stitching on it.  Progress is here.

  Part of the reason I've gotten a lot done is because I took a couple of books over to David's house the last time I stayed overnight.  (I know, that seems really eosteric, but I'll explain.)  Okay, when I went over to David's house to dog sit last time, I took my book, The Magical Christmas Cat.  It's a compilation of four author's Christmas stories.  One of the stories in it is in the Breeds series by Lora Leigh that I'm reading again.  I got the newest one, but I have to read the older ones again first so I don't miss any references.  (There are twenty five books in the series so far...)  So I read one, and it makes reference to the librarian almost being killed and my brain said, "Halt!!"  I didn't reread that story, so where was the book.  So I went looking.  I didn't find the book (here is where it starts to get relevant), but I did find my old stitching stand.  I was looking for it a few weeks ago, and assumed I must have sold or given it away cause I couldn't find it.  It was on the table.  (I did find the books, later that day too.  So it was all good.)  So I put it together and I've been using it.  It's the one with the clamp on it.  It's supposed to hold a scroll frame up but my scroll frame was too heavy.  With my Q-snap, it leans against my chest a little, but it's not bad.  So I stitch faster two handed, and I was so excited to find it.  So that's what I've been doing the last few days.  Yay me!!!  

     Julie had a great story for me when she got home from work yesterday.  She has a co worker who has a shoddy memory (like me) and so she writes down the special every night.  She got double sat (in normalspeak, this means the hostess sat two tables at almost the same time in her section).  So she went to the first table, and looked at her order pad.  The special was written there.  Beef Chcn.  So she said (this IS a direct quote), "Tonight, the special is Beef Chinchilla."  Since they weren't ready to order yet (they were probably confused by the chinchilla reference), she told them she would greet the next table and be back for their drink order.  She said the same thing to the second table, but the man there called her on it.  He said, "Do you mean Beef Enchiladas?"  And she stood there and turned bright red.  She was like, "OMG, I'm so sorry, a chinchilla is a small, furry animal, right?"  They assured her it was all right, but they were all laughing about it.  She told Julie about it, who of course began to tell everyone else.  It's too funny not to share, lol.  I thought it was hilarious and wanted to share it with y'all (of course).

     And last but not least (again), I'm gonna be starting another SAL next year.  Of course, my three current SALs will be finished, so I can.  I'm gonna stitch Amy's and David's wedding sampler on Sundays in place of mom's project.  And I'm gonna do a SAL with Randi.  We're SALing Noah's Sub as they have just made the pattern available again.  We're not starting till her birthday which is in July, so that's good.  Gives us plenty of time to kit it up, lol.  I can hardly wait.  I LOVE Noah's Sub.  For anyone who's interested, it's available at 123stitch.com in the Stoney Creek section.  I hope this finds you all well and happy.  Until next time!!

Ugh

     Well, I'm still up.  It's a little bit after eight am here, and I can't sleep.  I've been trying for hours.  On days like this, I want to overdose on my sleeping meds.  I only don't because that makes me hallucinate!!  So I guess I'll tell you what I've been up to instead of sleeping.  (Lots of eye candy in this post too.)

     I had trouble sleeping on Thursday night too, and didn't fall asleep till about seven thirty.  Then on Friday, when I was still up at eight, I got up.  Figured I wasn't gonna sleep anytime soon, because I was ticked that I couldn't sleep.  So I was up till about two that day.  Slept till about eleven that night (I know because I just had time to call mom when I woke up) and then was up all night.  Was up all night Friday/Saturday night, and went to sleep around eight o'clock on Saturday night.  Got up around one Sunday, and watched all three games.  Bengals played very poorly (and lost), so I was not in any way a happy camper.  They just had an off day for everyone.  It was terrible.  I did get a lot done on Jesus though.  I watched the Green Bay New York game at four fifteen.  It was really good.  I was rooting for both teams to play well, but wanted Green Bay to win to keep the streak alive.  (They're eleven and oh so far this year.  Could be perfect.)  Both teams played well.  There was a lot of passing, so it was a pretty game to watch.  GB won, yay!  Then, at eight thirty, the Saints took on the Lions.  It also was a good game, and the Saints won which made me happy.  I guess two out of three ain't bad, but I was still ticked off about our bad play.  I sure wouldn't want to be in the locker room this week!!!  Anyways, progress piccy of Jesus.  I worked extra on him on Saturday.  I met my goal for Fred, so I figured I would get some done on Jesus.  He's here.  

It looks like I got a huge amount done, but I worked on him on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, so it's not like I got it all done in one day.  I don't think I'll finish him up for Christmas, but we'll see.

     Next up is Fred.  As I mentioned in my last blog (I think), I got a lot done on Fred while I was dog sitting for David.  Vin is such a good dog that I never have any trouble out of him.  So I get a lot of stitching done.  My goal was to get done the shelf between his front legs and back legs, and at least two of the books on that shelf.  I did manage to meet my goal, which made me very happy.  I haven't been taking into account that I'm working four days per week on SAL stuff, so I don't have as many rotation days as I used to.  I was still setting goals for having six days a week to devote to my pieces and that just doesnt' work for me now that I don't have as much time to work on things.  Fred went very well.  I don't think I had to frog anything on him at all (which is a miracle).  You can see him here. 

There's gonna be a heart on that book eventually, when the bsing is done.  The bigger book, I mean.  I had a really hard time with that color on Friday night.  It just sort of blended right into the green.  Like working white on white or black on black.  PITA!!!  It was much better in the natural light Saturday morning.  It was much easier to see what I was doing.  (One good thing I can say about morning is that the light is much better than lamplight.)  So I'm happy with my progress on him.  When I took the final piccy of Fred, I had just gotten Queen of Peace out, so I figured I'd take a piccy of it where I left off for you.  It's here.

  Of course, the first thing I had to do was frog it.  And then I frogged the wrong color, of course.  I only pulled out about four rows though, so it wasn't too bad.  The problem was in a previous color, and I've fixed that.  Of course, now the color previous to that color is off and needs to be fixed.  (After that, there are no other colors, so I'm good.  And the area that needs to be fixed is quite small, so it's all good.)  Anyways, I got quite a bit done on it last night (this morning) and am pleased with my progress so far.  I just LOVE switching projects.  It makes me happy to have something new and different to work on.  I was only stitching about an hour a day when I was working on DGM exclusively.  I had so many things I wanted to start, and so many things calling my name, and I was bored with DGM so I wasn't working on it much.  Now, unfortunately for my emails, I'm putting in about three or four hours a night.  It's great!!

     Randi is doing better now.  She's really turned into a good friend.  She's often impatient with me (I can be annoying), but we've been sort of working out a schedule.  She's been up earlier in the day lately, but since I like the peace of the night, I don't mind that so much.  I LOVE to sit in my stitching chair at three am listening to music on Pandora and stitching.  It's so peaceful outside (something that NEVER happens during the day as I live close to a busy street), the quiet just wraps around me and soothes me.  It's wonderful.  So instead of talking on the phone all night, I get to play or stitch and enjoy the peace.  It's a beautiful thing.  I didn't realize how much I had missed it till I had it back!

     Julie's been doing all right.  She had a huge fight with her boyfriend a couple of weeks ago, so I was praying for her to not feel bad about some things he said.  She has a show coming up Thursday, and she took a class a few weeks ago, so she has a new technique to do.  She learned net stitch, and the class was called Nothing But Net.  Does anyone else remember those commercials?!?  Too cute!  Anyways, she showed me the finished product on the class page, and I think it's lovely.  I can't wait to see what she's come up with.   

     And, on a more serious note, mom is recovering.  I wanted to take a second to say thanks to all of you who have said a prayer or sent good, healing thoughts her way.  She still refuses to take it easy, but at least she takes rest breaks now.  So that's good.  I really appreciate every comment and every follower right now.  I'm depressed.  This is sort of the first Christmas without dad (he died on the twenty first, and so we were all too shell shocked to realize he was gone and it was Christmas), and it's depressing.  So if you don't mind me asking, please say a prayer for me and my sister and brother that we get through this without any major problems.  TIA!!

     I'm gonna leave you today with a couple of piccys of my little princess being cute.  She's sitting on her scratcher and on her cat tree.  She always sits at the top, so it was unusual for her to sit on a lower "branch" and be pretty.  Without further ado, here she is!!!!

  I know, the pics are kind of blurry, but my camera isn't super sharp.  Macro is on, so I don't think there's anything I can do about it (except take the picture with less zoom, and I wanted them to be close ups!!!) so I'll just live with a tiny bit blurry.  Enjoy, and I hope you all have a super day!!

Progress and something Wicked this way comes

     I don't remember (shock, shock) if I've mentioned it here before, but for Christmas mom got me tickets for her and I to go see Wicked.  I was excited about it.  I hadn't seen it, but I had heard many good things about it, mostly from my friend Vicki in the UK.  She's India Grace Designs, the hardanger designer I like so much.  So a few weeks ago, when I found out it was here, I started checking into tickets.  We got two some view obscured tickets for a decent price, and not too much of the stage was obscured.  However, she was in the hospital again till Thursday morning.  She had another Angioplasty done.  They didn't place any more stents and just basically made sure the arteries were clear with the balloon.  It went well till they were done.  They couldn't get the femoral artery to stop bleeding.  After half an hour of full pressure (nurse kneeling on the edge of the bed putting all her body weight behind it pressure) they were able to put on a pressure bandage and get her more comfy.  She was okay with that, and the doc kept her only for two days.  On Wed, I went and picked up the turkey and brought it home.  I put it in the freezer, thinking she wouldn't be home for Thanksgiving.  But when I talked to the nurse that night (around midnight, because my sister again didn't call me with an update), she said they would be releasing her in the morning.  So I got the turkey out to thaw.  Then at ten mom woke me up with the phone (luckily, as I usually sleep through the phone) to tell me to take the turkey over to her house so Beth, my cousin who lives there, would be able to put it in the oven.  I got back home and went back to bed.  At five thirty, the phone woke me again.  "If you don't get over here soon, we're gonna eat without you."  So I jumped up, washed up, brushed, and got dressed.  We had a really good dinner.  With some odd dishes, lol.  We had butternut squash risotto, which was really good.  It was my first risotto, and I liked it a lot.  We had mashers and gravy, of course.  They had dressing and jello salad too.  We had pumpkin custard for desert.  It was all delicious.  Oh, and we had asparagus with red peppers (steamed and then done in the skillet for texture) and that was delicious too.  On Friday morning, I still hadn't found someone to go to Wicked with me, as mom didn't think she could hack it.  I had called a friend from High School, Barb.  We don't talk much, but every once in a while, we do.  I called her at about ten PM Thursday night to invite her, and her dh gave me her cell phone number because she was out hitting the black Friday sales.  I called that, and got a message.  So I left her a message, and called back the next day at about ten thirty.  (Yes, I was up that early.)  We made our plans, and we had a great time.

     We both got a program (I'm sentimental about stuff like that), and there was a notice that Elphaba (the wicked witch) was being played by an understudy, Mariand Torres.  And we sort of looked at each other at intermission and said, "If this is the understudy, what must the real thing be like?!?"  Ms. Torres was FABULOUS!!!  It was amazing.  I always forget how much I like musicals till I go to another one of them.  And then I fall in love all over again.  For those who haven't seen it, and like musicals at all, this is a must see.  It's totally amazing!!  Totally!  I was thrilled with it, and really enjoyed the whole thing.  Superb!

     I got home and called mom up.  It was hard to tell her anything because I didn't want to give away the story line.  I"m hoping eventually, she'll be able to see it herself.  But I was thrilled to have gone, and told her so repeatedly.  It was lovely.  She was happy, I was happy, it was great.  I IMed Vicki too.  It's Vicki's fave musical, so I had to tell her how much I enjoyed it.  I went to bed late that night.  Too excited to sleep, lol.  (I'm still on that really late schedule.  Mom hates it, lol.)

     I've had some progress since I last blogged too, on everything I'm working on.  Yes, this post will be just full of eye candy, if you like stitching.  I'll start with Fred, since I haven't taken a piccy of him yet.  I've not gotten a whole lot done on him.  I did get some decent stitches in on him Friday night when I dog sat for David.  Vin and I hung in the basement and chilled for several hours on Friday night, and then again for several hours on Saturday.  I worked on Frederick the Literate from Dimensions (artist Charles Wysocki).  I really like his art work and have his Maggie the Messmaker, Max in the Adirondacks, and Too Pooped as well.  My goal was to finish up two books and part of the shelf they're on.  

So far, so good.  I got a lot of shelf done Friday night, and got a whole book done on Saturday.  I was there till about four or five o'clock when David and Amy arrived home.  So I packed up and headed home.  I had just started on the second book when they got there so I was doing good.  Pic is here.

     I was pleased with it so far.  Of course, it's hard to work on because of the dark fabby.  It hasn't been too hard though.  The light gold color is the first book and then the dark red and mauve are the beginnings of the second book.  I still have two more days to work, so we'll see how far I get.  The fabby is working out beautifully.  The pic is actually pretty true to the fabby's color.  I hand dyed it myself, years ago, just for this project.  I like how it's looking so far.

     The next day, Sunday, I worked on Jesus some.  I've stopped calling him cursed Jesus as I've not been frogging him very much.  You can see what I got done here.

  His face was much harder to do than his hair and clothing have been.  As you can see, I still have a few small spaces to fill in for his hair and face.  He's coming on though.  I really don't think I'll get him done for Christmas.  I work on him again tomorrow, and hopefully, I'll get more done than I did on Sunday.  I got up Sunday at one to watch the Bengals game only to find out that, surprise, surprise, it was blacked out.  I was ticked.  They've done really well the last couple of weeks against real contenders and are becoming a force to be reckoned with.  But still no one wants to buy tickets to the game.  So I didn't get to see them play yet again.  (I think the only home game that has been televised was Pittsburgh, and only then because Pitt's fans are fanatical and follow their team everywhere.  There were lots of terrible towels in the stands at Paul Brown Stadium when we played them.)  So I went back to bed.  I figured to sleep till the four fifteen game was on.  Unfortunately, I was very tired and slept till seven thirty.  Ugh!!!  Guess I should have set the alarm.  So I only got to watch (and stitch to) one game.  I was happy that game was a win though.  Pitt barely beat KC.  It wasn't a hold your breath at the end game, but KC kept themselves in the game till the very end.  So it was pretty exciting.  The Bengals won too, so I was happy about that.  For a rookie QB and a rookie WR, we're doing really, REALLY well.  I can hardly wait for next season.

     Tuesday was ToS day.  So far my tree looks okay.  It's not as advanced as I wanted it to be, but hey, you can't have everything, right?  This part is Eyelets.  I'm using one strand of floss.  I took it to the hospital with me on Tuesday night last week, and didn't have time to print out the instructions.  When mom called, I just got dressed and left.  So I did one with two strands, which is what Abi recommended for the Smyrna stitches.  I didn't like the Eyelet though.  Too bulky.  So I picked it out and started again with one strand.  I like that much better.  So this week, I had already done the trial and error of Eyelets.  I went to work and watched the movie my brother's girlfriend, Amy, recommended to me.  I didn't get a lot done though.  You can see progress here.

It's a little bit blurry, but the Eyelets are coming along well.  It's sometimes hard to place them.  The movie was really crazy.  It's called The Strangers and features Liv Tyler as the heroine.  Really scary.  If you like scary movies, you should definitely give this one a try.  It's very creepy.  There's nothing magical about it though.  No fantastic creatures, or men with wings and fangs or anything.  Just good old fashioned serial killers and creepiness.  I enjoyed it, and could hardly look away from the screen as it progressed.  Hence the not getting much done on my Tree of Stitches, lol.  So more Eyelets next week and then we'll have to see what happens next.

     And lastly, I worked (a lot) on my ornie SAL tonight.  It's coming along.  I got more done than I thought I would.  Tonight was the last Harry Potter night for mom and I.  We watched Deathly Hallows two, which was much better than the book, I think.  It was more of a battle than in the book, and it worked out well for us.  I thought of taking Fred with me in case my hand was too cramped to work on it for too much, but it wasn't a problem.  Here is a piccy of my progress.  I finished up the darker blue, put in all the lighter blue and grey, and started (barely) on the right tree.  You can see it here.  I hope you're all having a wonderful sleep except for the early birds who are already up.  Happy Stitching!!  And to all a good night, lol. 

More prayers requested (gonna be a long one)

     I'm asking for more prayers, on three fronts.  I'm sorry I haven't blogged so long, but it's been crazy here these last few days.  CRAZY!!!  (Of course, in a way, it's always crazy here since I'm crazy, lol, but crazier than usual is what I meant!)  Oh, geez, where to start.  I guess I'll start with the beginning and go on from there.  Last weekend was International Hermit and Stitch weekend.  As always, I participated and forgot to post a piccy of my progress.  I worked on Lust Friday and Saturday.  Watched a new movie over the weekend (at least, I think it was over the weekend.  So much has happened since).  It was good.  It was a horror movie, of course (cause I just LOVE the scary movies).  It was called Devil.  Basically, five people get trapped in an elevator, except one of them is the devil.  In the ensuing mayhem, you have to figure out who it is.  No spoilers, but I figured out who it was right away.  I followed the Mary Higgens Clark model to figure it out.  If you read her books, you know what her antagonists always have in common.  I don't wanna say anymore in case someone wants to watch it.  If you really want to know the MHC method, feel free to email me (jnemitz@cinci.rr.com) and I'll get around to you eventually.  I enjoyed it, and got a lot done on Lust.  I also scared the crap out of myself.  On the first section of the first row on the first page (which I'm still on, lol), I miscounted.  I was terrified I'd have to rip out what I'd done, but it looks like it will be easy to fudge.  Whew!!  I should have done fourteen stitches in a row and I did fifteen.  So the spaces are a little bit off, but it's all background color, so it'll be okay.  I was happy to see that I could fudge it because I've got thousands of stitches in it so far, and it's a straight up B*&^% to frog over one on twenty eight count, even using tent stitch.  It's hard to keep the stitches apart.  You work your needle under and you have two stitches and you can't pull them both out at the same time cause it would mess up your fabby, but you can't get the second stitch off there.  Ugly!!  Anyways, here's the piccy.  It really doesn't look like much, but it will eventually!!  I didn't make my goal on this one either.  I think I'm not fully taking into account that I'm only working on each piece for three days a week.  (I have four SAL days now, so that leaves the other three for rotation stuff.)  Anyways, I still feel like I got a pretty goodly amount done.  And another day, and I would have met my goal.  Then Sunday was heart attack day again (mine this time, not mom's).

     I watched the Bengals's game on Sunday afternoon.  I was up all night, for some reason which I now cannot fathom.  I just remember trying to get some sleep that morning before the game and not being able to at all.  I was probably still stressing about mom, but it feels like that was weeks ago, so...  Anyways, we lost again.  I have to admit, I have a lot of hope for next year though.  Our QB is a rookie, and he actually looked like one for a few drives on Sunday.  Since this is the first time he's looked even remotely flustered, I have to admit to being really amazed by him.  He's done really well.  Almost (last minute of the game almost) won against Pittsburgh last week.  This week, we played our division leader, Baltimore.  And we lost with twenty eight seconds left in regulation.  He threw three picks.  One of them, I put a lot of blame on the receiver.  Andy threw into double coverage in the end zone, expecting his receiver to go up and fight for the ball.  When he didn't, it was an easy pick for Ed Reed.  (I don't like Ed Reed.  As a matter of fact, I hate everyone in Baltimore this week.  No, everyone in Maryland.  Sorry Randi, I hate you this week.)  It was an amazing few drives he put together to get us back in the game though.  We were missing our best WR and our best cornerback too (AJ Green and Leon Hall) so that hurt us.   We also had some key injuries on the offensive line which left Andy Dalton in perpetual hurry up mode.  I got some done on Jesus, but not as much as I would have liked.  I took my pills with about fifteen or so minutes left in regulation.  Then I took two sleeping pills as soon as the game was over.  I wanted to get a nap in before my alarm went off for the eight thirty game, as I really wanted to watch it.  It was Eagles Giants and that's a pretty big rivalry.  Danni is an Eagles fan, so I had to root for them.  (Speaking of Danni, say another prayer for her family.  Her mom is still in the hospital and she's not doing well.  I know Danni and her brothers and sister would welcome any prayers said for all of them.)  I laid there and laid there and laid there, and I couldn't sleep.  Julie called at five thirty and I got up and talked to her for a while.  Then I finally fell asleep about seven thirty.  Slept right through my eight thirty alarm.  For an HOUR!!!  Slept through till seven AM as a matter of fact.  Then I got up and played.

     I've been playing an awful lot lately.  It's all Freak's fault.  He's one of my best friends, but I could have killed him Saturday night.  He talked me into doing the Crevice Dungeon, which bores the crap out of me.  I'll do it for him, but only cause I love him.  So he talks me into it.  We get the party together, and we get inside, and he's like, "Everybody just chill out so we can see if we can solo this."  I was ticked.  So now I'm in a dg I don't like, and I'm supposed to just stand here and look pretty while you fight?!?  I was mad.  So I'm sitting there watching his knight friend fight and thinking how cool his moves are.  I have a knight.  This guy was level 153, and I was lvl 61, but I had a couple of the moves he was showing off.  Made me want to play with my knight.  So I switched characters.  Epi, my knight came out to play, and LaDameBlanche, my seggie (healer character) got put on the shelf.  She was lvl 122, and a lot of fun, but my knight can be fun too.  I've been having so much fun with a new char, I've hardly stitched.  I've actually lvled from 61 to 74 since Saturday night.  (That's about six hours a day of playing.  My neck is killing me, lol.)  So I've hardly been doing emails or stitching, which is why I'm even further behind than I was.  I'm gonna make an effort over these next few days to do some emails and try and get somewhat caught up.

     I worked on Jesus on Sunday, of course.  I didn't get a lot done on him, but put in about a hundred stitches or maybe a little bit more.  I'm working on his clothes now, and so it's hard to see where the stitches were added.  Hopefully, sleep will not be an issue with me on Saturday night this week and I'll be able to watch all three games.  Here's what Jesus looks like now.

     And then along came Monday.  Mom and I have been talking about Monday for a while.  She called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that her sewing machine was ready to be picked up.  It's heavy, so no way was I gonna let her go get it herself.  We then made plans to do some shopping afterwards and have lunch.  We've been planning this for quite some time, so I had her call me when she got home from Cardiac Rehab on Monday morning.  She also wanted to go out to Hancocks and look at fabby.  My cousin wanted her to make robes for her daughters for Christmas, and since sewing doesn't involve lifting anything, mom said she would still do them.  No big deal right?  So we looked at fabby, then we headed down to the sewing machine store.  It's called Luke's and it's right down the street.  We pulled into the parking lot and the store is dark.  She mentioned it, and I answered that maybe there was something wrong with the lights.  We parked in front, and she said, "Tuesday, ten to six."  And I laughed and said, "You do realize today is Monday?"  And she said something I won't repeat.  It started with an s, lol.  They're closed on Monday.  Silly woman, lol.  So we went to lunch.

     We went to Red Squirrel (my choice cause they have the best ever turkey and bacon double decker).  The hostess took us back and basically said seat yourselves, as the whole section was open.  So we picked a table and sat down.  She came back two minutes later with a single man and gave him the same treatment.  And here we go with the impulsiveness.  I asked him if he was alone, and then if he wanted to join us.  Turned out he had been to my mom's street before.  He's a retired priest, and one of his parishioners lives across the street from my mom.  Mary is lovely, and we both really like her.  So we had a nice lunch.  I thought it would be good for me to get out of my comfort zone, which this really did.  And he didn't have to eat alone, which I really hate, but he's used to.  It was nice.

     Then we went and did some more shopping.  We didn't get home till late.  Then I came home and played and talked to Randi.  The next day, she called me at about noon and said she was still having sweats and she had called to see if her doctor could see her.  She was STILL waiting for them to call her back.  When she finally called them back, they were out to lunch.  She finally got a hold of someone and they said the doc had responded that he could see her at nine am on Wed.  So we got a late start.  We got her allergy shot done, went to Hobby Lobby (I bought a small piece of twenty eight count antique white fabby for the rest of my ornies), Penn Station, Hancocks again, and Luke's.  Oh, and the grocery store.  We really got a lot done.  I dropped her at home, and came back here.  I cleaned the kitchen, and futzed around the house for a bit.  Randi had just called me after my bath at about one oh three when mom beeped in.  I immediately switched over.  Mom doesn't call after eleven unless there's a really good reason.  She "didn't feel right".  She didn't know what was wrong, but she could feel her heart beating and she wasn't supposed to notice that.  She wanted me to take her up to the hospital.  Of course, I immediately felt bad for taking her all over the city the last two days to shop and run her errands.  I'm sure I should have made her wait now, but I thought if she had a problem, she would tell me.  I get there to find her on the phone with 911 who she called when she started having pains.  They did an EKG in her house and transported her to Mercy Hospital, which is in the top fifty in the country for heart problems.  I followed them up after gathering some things for her and locking up her house.  She had me text David, Cathy, and Beth at about four.  Cathy called back two minutes later.  I didn't want to tell her anything because I didn't want her to come up to the hospital and worry mom.  Of course, she got snotty with me.  She called my cell phone then asked to speak to mom, who of course told her everything.  She decided she needed to come up to the hospital.  Mom said no, don't, and my sister argued with her about it.  Mom didn't want to stress herself unnecessarily, so she just said okay, go ahead.  I'm so pissed at my sister for this.  Mom decided at about four thirty that I should go home because she worried about me driving myself home from the hospital tired.  So I went ahead and went home.  I made a couple of calls for her, then called and talked to the ER nurse and asked her to let mom know I made her phone calls and made it home safe and sound.  The best thing I can do for my mom right now is not give her anything to worry about.

     I worked on ToS while I was in the hospital with her.  I finished up part two, Smyrna Stitch and started part three, Eyelets.  Eyelets are easy for me, so it was no big deal.  I got a few put in, but not many.  People kept asking me to move so they could get access to mom, so I was up and down a lot.  Here's a piccy of it.  

     Then yesterday, she was having more problems so they did another angioplasty. There were three docs working on her this time.  They were talking about doing surgery, but decided against it.  She'll be coming home today, hopefully.  I had to go up and get the turkey today, so it's thawing on the kitchen counter now.  I REALLY don't think we'll be having turkey tomorrow, but we'll see.  I called the nurse tonight, and she said she's doing well, so I"m somewhat relieved by that.  I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but if you could all say a prayer for my mom, I'd really appreciate it.  And one for me that I get myself under some semblance of control.  I'm having dad flashbacks (first Thanksgiving without him) and don't want to stress out like I am.  So hopefully I make it through the next few days sane, lol, but we'll see.  (Or at least as sane as I usually am!)

     Third prayer is for Julie M.  She's been having some really tough times lately with her bf out of work.  He's got a line on a job atm, and we're both hoping he gets it.  So say a prayer that he gets it and they pay him a decent wage!  She's been doing a lot of shows lately, and that has kept her mostly solvent, but I think she only has one more to go and then she's done, so things will be really tight for the next month or so.  I'm happy she's been doing fairly well at the shows though.  A few sales almost every time, which is good.  And she usually gets at least one special order from shows too, so that's good too.  I'm happy that her business is doing okay, and hope that things improve for them soon.

     And that's enough for me tonight.  I put about six stitches in my SAL for Wed (ornie SAL), so I'm not gonna bother to post a piccy of my ornie tonight.  I hope this finds you all well, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

More progress (Short for a change)

     I haven't done anything interesting over the last couple of days, so I'm basically just here to show you my SAL progress from yesterday.  (This will be a VERY short blog.)  I talked to Danni last night for two and a half hours.  Her mom is ill, so please say a prayer for her.  But it was nice to be able to take her mind off her worries for a few minutes.  I was happy for that.  I worked on Snowy Night, by The Prairie Schooler.  I got a lot done.  I was really pleased with my progress.  I was also on messenger with Randi, so I was a little bit distracted, but not much.  Here's my progress.  Enjoy, and I hope you're all having a wonderful evening! 

ToS SAL

     Yesterday was my ToS SAL day, and I got a pretty goodly amount done.  I stitched and watched a movie for a bit, and talked to Rosa on the phone.  She called me and said she finally approached the guy she's practically in love with and he was interested.  But then his ex texted that she wanted to get back together, and he has a son with her whom he would like to see more of, so it may  not go anywhere.  She's known him for a while, and I think they would make a good match.  But I got to stitch and talk to her for quite some time.  We were on the phone for a little over an hour.  (And when I say a little, I mean it was an hour and one minute, or an hour and two minutes or something like that.)  We had fun though, so it was all good.  I had her laughing by the end.  And then I was watching a movie and stitching for a bit, until Randi called.  Then I was stitching and talking to Randi.  I got all the rest of the trunk done, and started part one, which is Smyrna stitch.  It's fairly easy.  You make a vertical cross then cover it with a diagonal cross.  It's done over four stitches, so it's like a big cross stitch.  I love them.  They're nice and quick and easy.  So without further ado, here's my progress from yesterday:  

     It's hard to see the shape of the stitches, but my camera doesn't get any closer, so...  Anyways, so far, I've thoroughly enjoyed working on this design.  Thanks to Abi Gurden, the designer, for giving it to me!!  It's wonderful.

Progress, and I'm an idiot (apparently)

     Okay, the idiocy first.  I went over to David's house for dinner on Saturday night.  He wanted to show mom and I what he was gonna do with the basement.  (He's redoing the whole thing.  He took down the seventies wood paneling, added insulation, and put up drywall.  Now he's gotta paint and tile.)  He's painting the right side of the basement in light blue, the center section, stairs, doors, and support pole tan, and the stairwell and back wall gray.  His carpet is light and dark gray, brown, and an umber color.  It's really nice looking (except for the brown, lol).  His tiles are all in shades of gray.  He and Amy (his girlfriend) were laying out the tiles in the pattern he wanted to make them.  Mom and I were offering suggestions.  He had them laid out so that two twelve by twelve tiles were up against the carpet, followed by two other twelve by twelves, then two six by twelves.  In the center of the twelve by twelve blocks, there is a six by six diamond.  It was pretty, but I suggested he put the two six by sixes on both sides of the twelve by twelves, so he would have a border around them.  It's more symmetrical that way.  So he and Amy rearranged them, and he looked at it, and then looked at me and said, "Damn you," which made me laugh.  Amy asked what was wrong, and he said, "I like it," to which I replied, "You sound surprised."  And he looked at me and said, "You're an idiot!!!"  Amy looked like she was gonna get all offended on my behalf, but mom and I were cracking up.  (A bit of backstory.  I haven't always been so well medicated, and I've not made the best choices when I'm not medicated.)  He's grinning at me, and mom and I are laughing like loons, and poor Amy just looked confused.  It was too funny.  She assured me she would tell everyone the tile arrangement was my idea, lol.  It was hilarious.  I got some stitching done, but not much (and David kept leaning on my chart and now it's all wrinkly).  I worked on Lust.

     Then on Sunday, I worked quite a bit on Jesus.  I watched the one o'clock game (Bengals VS Pittsburgh) which we lost but played very well in.  The defense didn't do much the first couple of series, and I think if they had come out and played hard, we would have won the game.  Final was 24-17.  We sacked Ben five times.  FIVE!!!  And we picked him once, even though it wasn't his fault.  The receiver tipped the ball (twice) and our guy caught it instead.  It was great.  A good game all the way around.  We had two interceptions against us, and one was a tipped ball like the other.  The other was a true interception.  Receiver stopped and QB had expected him to keep going.  It was at a penultimate moment too.  Our last drive of the day, halfway down the field, looking to tie it up, and intercepted.  Boo Pitt!!!  (Of course, I like Pittsburgh, so I really don't mean that.)  Got a goodly amount on Jesus done.  Lots more hair, and then I started on his clothing.  You can see the results here:  

     I also got some decent work in on Lust.  I took her with me to David's and got some done there, but I was working on her last Monday night (Tuesday was ToS and Wed was ornies and Thurs was Jesus again) and had to frog about a hundred and fifty stitches.  It was my own mistake, so I wasn't too ticked.  (Of course, sometimes it's my mistake and I'm ticked, so who knows why, lol.)  Anyways, I got it all put in in the right place this time.  You can see my progress here: 

I really like the way it's turning out.  It's looking beautiful.  I was surprised at first that the first color is so dark a blue, but not after I looked at the pic again.  It's going to be beautiful when finished, and I can hardly wait.  (I'd better not hold my breath though.)  As you can see, I've not gridded this one.  I'm just stitching cross country.  I wanted to see if it made a big difference.  So far, it has.  I wouldn't have made the mistake I did had I gridded it, so I'll be gridding the rest of them.  Ick!!  Gridding is such a pain.  But then, so is frogging.  I'd rather grid than frog, soooooo...  I should have put a quarter on it for scope, but I didn't think of it.  Anyways, that's it for me now.  I'm off to play for a bit!

Progress photos (Late, late, late)

     I know, I'm a bad SAL hostess.  I was supposed to put up pics, but it's been busy here with stitching and trying to get caught up on my emails and all the stress of the last few days.  And even worse, I'm gonna post my update first and make you wait for the piccys!!!  (I know, BAD!!!)  First off, Randi and I finally talked.  (Only because I kept after her.)  I don't like to lose friends, and if I though she really had a problem with me, I would have let it go.  But I didn't understand what she said, and so I gave her an answer that she construed to mean something different.  I told her, when she first was considering moving her, that I would take her around if she needed a ride.  She doesn't do well in traffic.  So she can take the bus sometimes.  In the summer, spring, and fall, it wouldn't be too bad.  But it would suck in winter.  It's a long walk with no sidewalks.  (Depending where in the complex she is.  But it is a huge complex.)  So I agreed that I would take her to doc's appointments, to the grocery store, and to the vet.  (Obviously, she can't take the dogs on the bus.)  And I'm good with that.  When I didn't have a car, I went with my mom.  I think it's the friendly thing to do.  But she was talking about the Christmas Party and Wedding Sleepover and Fall retreat, all of which are in Berlin, OH (where I'm not willing to drive to).  And so she said something about me saying I wouldn't drive her there.  And it was something along the lines of, "what about everything else," and I said no.  Of course, I thought she meant the other things at Berlin.  She meant around town, but I didn't know that.  So she though I was going back on my word to get her to the vet and to the store.  I didn't understand why she was so upset, or why she was calling me a liar (which if I had meant what she thought I meant, I would have been a liar).  So I finally got her to talk to me, and we figured out where we went wrong.  I'm a little bit miffed that she would believe I would go back on my word like that, but with her past experience, I can understand it.  So we made up.  This can only be a good thing!!  So I'm happy about that, and still a little insulted that she would believe I'm like that.  But life must go on, and she's had some real pieces of work take her for a ride, as have I.  She's good people, just a little stressed, and I know that.  So I forgive her for believing the worst about me, and I guess eventually, she'll realize that what you see is what you get, lol.  (Yes, I DO wear my heart on my sleeve!  I always have.)  So that makes me feel better.

     Also, I went in to see my sleep doc today.  It was funny how it came about too.  I had an appointment for November thirtieth, and couldn't get in earlier since it wasn't an emergency.  Then the receptionist called me back about an hour later and basically told me someone had cancelled for the next day, did I want the appt.  I was all over that, baby!!!!  So he gave me a prescription for the Zaleplon (which is the generic for Sonata).  Then he handed me over to Doctor Niebur (my pdoc) for the stimulant.  He's afraid to give me a stronger stimulant with my bipolar.  And I'm afraid to take on because of my bipolar.  He said it can make people wonky.  I'm already enough of a dork, so I'm nervous about it.  I see Niebur in a few days, and I'll talk about it with her then.  So wish me luck!

     Also, someone told me that if I scheduled my therapy on the same day and at the same time, I would be more likely to remember it.  Some I'm gonna talk to Heather about it next time and see what she thinks about putting me in for it.  I know I need it, but I have such troubles remembering to go to my case manager apts...  Anyways, I'll see what I can do with that.

     Mom is doing all right.  She would be doing better if she would stop working around the house.  She just doesn't seem to know the meaning of the words rest and relax.  She is a seamstress.  She was washing the windows and dragging the garbage out yesterday.  Then today I stopped by to see her on the way home from the sleep doc's, and she was working on a customer's stuff.  I was all, "No wonder you're ready to drop by nine each night.  You're working when you should be resting."  And she defended herself, saying she was supposed to slowly resume normal activities.  To which I pointed out that if she's exhausted by nine, she needs to take it easier.  She's not listening.  I'm worrying about her still.  She's stubborn sometimes, and she just doesn't know how to relax.

     And now for the eye candy.  (I know this is the part you've all been waiting for, lol.)  I worked on ToS on Tuesday night (and should have posted a piccy on Wed).  I'm a bad SAL hostess, so here is my pic.

  It's not much, just part of the trunk.  I love working on the opalescent fabby though.  It's so nice and sparkly.  Thanks again Anne!!  Wow, and the pic is even somewhat sparkly too.  Awesome!!  So far, I'm enjoying this piece.  It took me a few stitches to get over feeling bad about the whole mess.  But now I'm okay with this.  I've got some more trunk to do, as you can see.  But I didn't have a lot of stitchy time on this.  It was a busy day.  I had a few non stitchy things to do, and of course there were emails to do.  I'm still behind, but I swear, I will get caught up at some point.  Hopefully soon.  At this point, I have 345 of them in my Incredimail inbox, and then I'll be mostly caught up.  I just downloaded again last night, so I probably have some on the server too.

     And then Wed was the Christmas (ornie) SAL.  We're doing all things Christmas since someone has a larger Christmas project.  I started on my Snowy Night Ornie by The Prairie Schooler.  I didn't get a lot done.  I got a few rows in.  It's hard going because I'm stitching in hand, and my hand cramps.  So I can work for ten minutes, and then I have to put it down.  So I didn't get as much done as I had hoped to, but I got some done.  Here she is in all her glory, lol.

  I'm stitching this one on opalescent fabby too, and I gave mom a seam allowance of half an inch.  She only needs an eighth or so, but I was afraid of fraying, so I made it so there's enough room to serge it.  I'm gonna change one of the colors in it too.  The evergreens are done in a very dark blue, and I think I'm gonna change that to a very dark evergreen color.  I need my darned color card!!!!!  Wah!!!  (Okay, hissy fit over, lol.)  And that's it for me today.  Hope everyone is having a good night!!

The hits just keep on coming

     Well, the hits just keep on coming.  I was talking to Randi yesterday, and she again expressed a desire to go to the Buckeye Stitchers fall retreat.  We had discussed it before, but I'm not willing to drive that far.  I would LOVE to go to the spring retreat though.  It's in Hocking Hills which is southeast of Columbus.  Fall retreat is in Belin which is three and a half hours away compared to an hour and a half away.  I really don't do well on long trips.  I can't do the trip up to Julie's in one fell swoop.  I usually stop twice, once at Xenia (pronounced Zenia) about an hour in and again in Grove City at about an hour and fifty minutes in.  I need to stretch my legs because when I drive, I get very tense.  Julie always tries to do for me because I'm so sore when I get there, and it's just because I'm so tense driving.  I think it's mostly my legs, neck, and back that are stressed.  And my shoulders.  I just tense everything up.  Maybe because I'm always looking to avoid an accident, so I'm watching traffic and road signs and other cars and big trucks and behind and next to and in front of my car...  Anyways, she called me selfish, said I was a liar, and has refused to speak to me since.  As I never told her I would take her to Berlin, IDK why I'm a liar.  So another thing to stress over.  I was up all night last night, of course, because I can't get in with my sleep doc until the thirtieth, and he won't renew my sleeping pill prescription until I do.  So I'm just SOL.  And of course, when I stress, I can't sleep without help.  Heck, sometimes I can't even sleep with help!!  My chest is all tight and my stomach is upset.  Urg, sometimes I feel like I just can't win.  

     I don't see it as selfish though.  I'm in misery after the drive to Columbus, so why wouldn't I be after a longer drive.  And since there is another option that's closer, I'd be happy to do that.  If Berlin were the only option, then I would, of course, consider it.  I'm not a selfish person.  Of course, that is not to say I'm never selfish.  I'm sure I am selfish at times, just like any other human being.  But in general, selfishness isn't one of my faults.  I need to get her addy though, as I still have the stuff she left here, and I need to send it back to her.  Hopefully, I can get over this blow and move on.  I hate when I don't understand people...

     I also started ToS tonight.  Right now I'm working on the trunk, and I don't have much done, so I'm not gonna take a piccy.  I've probably put in all of thirty stitches, lol.  It took me a while to get started though.  I had to remeasure the fabby and make absolutely sure I have enough.  I do, yay!  I need six point seven something inches and I have nine.  I know my framer can work with that as Randi left less than a half inch on one side of Cat Lessons and he said he didn't even have to add extra fabby.  (I was impressed.)  So I have an inch on each side for ToS, and then a lot at the top and bottom.  (Not enough to cut it off and use it for something else though.  I have about four inches top and bottom.  Plenty to frame, but not enough to be able to use.)  So I'm still up at five AM (well, five forty one now) and stressed, so I think I'm gonna go stitch and listen to some music.  Hope you all have a wonderful day!!  Next time, I'll have piccys for you!!

Progress piccys and an update on mom (not in that order, lol)

     I know, I've been a bad blogger.  So much has gone on though...  Mom was released from the hospital on Friday last.  She got home, sent Jim and Cathy over to Penn Station (yum, east coast subs) and got a shower.  When she got out, she peed (yes, I am telling you this for a reason) and she had been peeing pink since she was put on the Plavix.  It's a blood thinner, so the doc told her this would probably happen.  Unfortunately, she looked into the bowl and saw several clots.  So, since she tries to be a good patient, she called the doctor.  They said go in to the ER and get herself looked at.  So she had Cathy and Jim take her up to the ER and get looked at.  They put a thick catheter in.  It has two tubes, and she said it was very painful.  They pumped a saline solution through the one tube, and drained her bladder with the other one.  Once they water was coming out clear, they pulled the catheter and sent her back home.  The next morning, they called her at nine o'clock to tell her to come in for a CAT scan.  She hadn't eaten or drank anything yet, so she went in at about ten with  my cousin, Beth, who lives with her.  At about ten thirty, I called, having been up all night worrying about her.  No answer.  And I'm all, "Oh, crap," because where would she go on a Saturday morning, except back to the hospital.  So I checked the ER and they said she wasn't there.  So now I'm freaking out thinking she woke up dead in her bed or something.  (I know, but that's the way I phrase things sometimes.)  So I'm all worried, and finally she calls me back, and I'm all calm, cool, and collected.  "I was starting to worry about you."  She told me about the CAT scan.  So she's feeling better now.  She and I MAY be going to see Wicked, depending on what tickets we can get.  I called her and asked her if she thought she would be up to it for Christmas, and she said check and see what they have.  It's here through the twenty sixth, so we can wait for her to feel better.  We'll probably both pay for our own tickets, as they're pretty expensive.  (Technically, I'll give her hers, and she'll give me mine, lol.)  So we're seeing.  She needs to take it easy for a few days though (my thoughts, not hers), so I'm not looking until a couple of weeks away.  We'll see if we can get seats or not.  I know it's extremely popular, so we may not be able to get seats.  But I"m hopeful that she's feeling interested enough to have me look into it.  That's a good thing.  Of course, I'm still stressed about it, and I'm even madder at my sister.  For a couple of reasons.

     First, I didn't get a call at all Friday.  No she's home, no she had to go back to the ER, so when I finally called, she was back home again.  I'm ticked about that.  My sister was supposed to keep me in the loop, and I expected her to do so.  She acts like I don't matter.  David got an update, of course.  She texted him several times.  Also, when mom was in the hospital on Wed night, she was very upset about my sister staying.  When the nurse came in at about four AM (she got to her room at about ten or ten thirty, I think), the first thing out of my mom's mouth was, "I wish they'd go home."  Nothing about her or her condition.  No, she was stressing about my sister and her husband staying at the hospital.  This really pisses me off, because I TOLD my sister that she didn't want anyone to stay, and that she was staying to make herself feel better instead of because of any care for our mother.  Then, mom dropped this on me on Saturday morning.  I was supposed to dogsit on Saturday night because my brother was going over to Cathy's house, and she's allergic to the dog.  She also doesn't like him.  She tries to put up a good front though.  So I called mom Saturday morning after my brother telling me on Friday he wasn't going.  We had a nice long conversation, during which I said something about no dogsitting.  She asked why, and I said because David said he wasn't going.  And so she told me that when she talked to him Friday night, he said he was going.  So I called him and he told me they (he and his girlfriend Amy) were still going.  I had already been up all night, so I told him I would probably come over soon and sack out in the basement.  He told me he was working in the basement, but I could sack out on the living room couch.  I thought about that, and decided not to.  When I get overtired, I sweat.  It doesn't stink or anything, or my  mom would have told me.  But it is icky.  So I called him back and told him I would sleep at home (I can always throw an extra sheet over the bed and then throw it in the wash), and come over around two or three AM.  

     So I went over to David's about one AM and stayed (and stitched) until about ten AM Sunday morning (Ten AM before I turned the clocks back).  I got home and called mom to check on her.  She was tired and she talked about having a heart attack.  I was a little bit startled, and told her she didn't have one.  She only went into Ventricular Fibrillation, which leads to a heart attack.  She told me the doctor told her Thursday morning that she had a heart attack on the table.  Her heart was silent for eight minutes.  They did CPR and shocked it back.  It happened after they put in the first stent.   IDK why the doc didn't tell us that.  I'm glad he didn't though, or my sister never would have left.  So, geez, it's been a busy weekend.

     Then Sunday was, well, Sunday.  Football day here!!  I don't think I did anything on the net.  I tried for several hours to take a nap (maybe from ten thirty till one thirty), then I got up and watched the Saints beat the Bucs.  Then I watched the Bengals game, which was very exciting.  Heart attack kind of exciting, lol.  I told mom if I suddenly drop out of contact and they find me dead in front of the TV, it will have been from the Bengals game, lol.  We beat Tennessee in pretty good style.  I'm really liking our rookie quarterback.  He's doing a good job for us.  Then I talked to Randi and Julie and Rosa both for a bit.  Then I turned on the Steelers game and watched the first quarter of that.

  I went to bed at nine, and fell asleep pretty quickly.  I had been up twenty hours, so I'm thankful I didn't get manic and not be able to sleep.  I got lots done on Jesus though.  After the Bengals game was over, I put him down though.  I was afraid I was too tired to stitch.  You can see the piccy of his progress here:  

     Then, today, I had some errands to do.  Well, one, actually.  And it was one I was looking forward to.  I had to go to Hobby Lobby to get some floss for my ornies.  I have picked out six to do (I'm sure I won't get them all done before Christmas, but there's always next year, right?!?), and I needed to get floss for them.  I picked out my flosses and checked out.  When I got home, I put the bag on the floor next to my desk, so I would know where it was come Wed.  Then I got the stitch bug.  (I think it's cause I had a new start to make.  I always get excited about those.)  Today was Lust.  For a change, I'm not gridding it.  We'll see how I do stitching cross country this week.  I went flipping through the ninety colors, looking for the first symbol.  There's quite a bit of it on the first page.  I find the bag and it's empty.  And I'm thinking, "Oh, crap, I just went to Hobby Lobby".  So I look at the color number to go back and go through my floss stash, and I was all, "Hot diggity dog!!!"  The floss I needed, I had just bought at Hobby Lobby!!  Whoo hoo!!  Saved myself another trip to the store.  (Of course, it's only three blocks away, but still.  It's the principle of the thing, you know?)

     So I dug it out and started Lust.  I was in a scary movie mood still from Halloween, so I pulled out Halloween:  Season of the Witch (part two of the Halloween series).  I got my bag for Lust (I'm using Ziploc Big Bags in Large), and took it over to my chair.  I know I don't have enough room to give it three inches all around for framing, but I have enough to give it two.  (My framer needs much less, lol.)  I got it all set up (it's already serged, so I just had to measure out two inches and get it on the Q-snap, which I got today).  I got some decent stitches in it watching the movie.  Not much to see, but you can see it here:  

     And then I had to pack up Shore Patrol.  I was unhappy to do so, lol.  My goal for the piece was to get the fox I had started done.  If I hadn't had to frog, I would have.  I also have another one of those color problems.  I looked (carefully) at the pic that came with the kit, and you can't see it in that pic, but...  The foxes are reddish brown with white stomachs and throats, right?!?  Nope, wrong.  The throat area of the fox I'm working on is done in several shades of blue and cream.  And so I'm looking at the pic and back at the project and thinking, "That sure doesn't look right," and deciding whether I want to change it now or wait till later.  Finally, I decided that I'd wait till the whole thing is done, and then I'll decide what to do with it.  Cause sometimes, you get done, and it looks different.  So we'll have to wait and see.  I should finish this one around twenty fifty at the ripe old age of seventy nine.  If I can just speed up my stitching, lol.  Anyways, progress can be seen here:  

I did do some other stuff when I realized I wasn't gonna get the fox done.  I did some of the snow under his feet, and all of the snow at the top of his tail.  I figured since I had the blue out anyways...  Well, you get the idea.

     So my SALs both start this week, and I'm excited about them.  ToS starts on Tuesday, and the Christmas SAL (I made it all things Christmas instead of just ornies for someone who wanted to join in but had a larger piece) starts on Wed.  I'm gonna be writing to everyone who wants to participate tonight to set out the particulars.  Hopefully, I'll be able to write two emails, and then copy and paste to the other participants.  Also, if anyone else wants to join in, leave me a comment on this post and you can join us!!

     Lastly, there has been a huge outpouring of love and prayer for mom and me this week.  It has been amazing to know you all are there for me (and for her) if you're needed.  I appreciate every good though, prayer, and healing impulse sent our way, and I think you're all amazing for helping out!!  So I want to take a moment to say a huge thanks to everyone who contributed, whether you left a comment about it or not.  My Blogger and Multiply friends are AWESOME!!!!!

A really bad day yesterday

     Today was a bad day for me.  I agreed to take mom up to the hospital for her Angioplasty.  It was NOT my brightest day.  She was supposed to be there by two, so I left here at one.  It's about fifteen minutes from here to her house, but I wanted to make sure I was there early enough that if we hit traffic, it wouldn't make us late.  I sat and talked with her for a while, then we left for the hospital around one thirty.  We were early (of course, lol) but better early than late, right?!?  We go in and they put me in the waiting room and take her back right away.  She got a lot of questions to answer.  They took her full medical history and everything.  (She's had ten surgeries in the last ten years, so that took them a while.)  I went up and asked them if we could change the channel (I was thinking ESPN for football, lol).  She said she could, but she was actually about ready to take me back.  So we go back, and she's not even in her gown yet.  So the nurse comes back in and says, "Come on back out to the lobby, and you can watch ESPN," and I was all about that, so we went back out to the lobby.  Jim showed up, my bil, and asked me where Cathy was.  When I told him she wasn't there yet, he went to wait for her.  (I don't think he likes me.)

     They came and got Jim and I and took us back a while later.  She was all gowned and ready.  I really wasn't thinking about it when I sat down, but there were two chairs grouped together, and one alone.  I sat in one of the two and put my bags on the other (I try and sit on two chairs, so I have room for all my stitchy stuff).  Jim sat in the one, and we were talking to mom (nothing big) when his phone rang.  Cathy was lost, so he went out to find her.  I moved into the one chair (had my scissors on one arm, my highlighter on the other, and my floss on top of my purse which was on the floor) so they could have the two together.  The doc came in and met me and told mom he had just finished the procedure before the procedure before hers.  He had one more to go (and we were already past the time of her procedure to start).  Jim and Cathy got back and we all sort of desultorily talked about nothing, waiting.  Finally they came and got her.  They took her back and the real waiting began.  We got several updates, and one of them had me cracking up.  The nurse who was in the room doing mom's medical history came in, and she looked at me and said, "You're the daughter who likes football," and I started cracking up.  Apparently, after I left to go watch ESPN, mom told the nurse how I only turn my cable on during football season.  She thought this was hilarious, and told me so.  She told us about the stents, and Cathy immediately made plans to stay the night.  I told her straight up that mom didn't want anyone staying the night, but she insisted she wanted to stay the night.  I pointed out that it would make mom feel bad, and she didn't care.  I guess whatever makes her feel better is more important to her.  They got her off the table around six thirty.  The doc came to tell us the deposits were very calcified and they had to put in three stents.  They said they had to get her off the table, and get her under some blankets as she was cold.  We waited and waited and waited, and then the doc came back and said she was complaining of chest pain and they were gonna put her back on the table and check it out.  They found a clot.  It's extremely rare that the insertion of a stent causes a clot.  (It would happen to my mom.  She just has that kind of luck, lol.)  So they ballooned it, and got rid of the clot.

     The doc came and talked to us again to tell us what had happened, and I said thanks for staying when he did.  My sister and brother in law both made fun of me for my common courtesy.  After all, he could have been a dick and sent her up to her room anyways.  He left, and at about nine, they took her back off the table.  The put a bunch of blankets on her, and started warming her up.  They put her on Oxygen.  She started puking.  (Cathy came back and was freaking out about it.  I pointed out that mom always vomits after she's given any type of anesthesia, or sedative.  She said, "I know that.  I've been at every surgery."  I was a little bit ticked because she wasn't at the one where mom threw up on me.  But I didn't say that.  I said, "Then don't stress about it.  It's normal for her and she'll be fine after she's done."  That got me, "Don't start this with me," and when I opened my mouth to say start what, she got really snotty.  "Just be quiet!!"  Since I'm extremely stressed over this whole thing, it's hard for me to stay in control.  But I do it.  I keep my mouth shut, because I don't feel like screaming at my sister right now.  I WILL address it with her later.)

     So then they come and get us.  I had packed up mom's clothes and stuff.  She brought a change of underclothes (since she hardly wore her clothes the day before, and would be in a hospital gown from one on if she had to stay the night, then she felt she only needed new underclothes).  They gave the bag to Jim, he gave it to Cathy, and she put it on the sink and left it there.  (And y'all know how I feel about seeing other people's knickers, lol.  But I packed them up cause I do love my mom, and she needed her knickers!!!)  So they take us around the corner and through the hall.  They opened up the waiting room doors, and send us into the waiting room.  By this time, I'm ticked off at my sister and her hubby for being so snotty to me.  (It was an all day thing.  Like Cathy is the only one under stress, ya know?)  So I basically ignored them.  Two minutes after we get up to the waiting room, they're both gone and the call goes out.  Code blue in CVU room six.  I'm sitting there, stunned and numb, and praying.  I just KNEW that mom was in room six.  A few minutes later, they canceled it.  That made me feel better.  Cathy and Jim came back, and Cathy called in on the intercom to see why we hadn't been called back yet.  (She didn't ask me if they had tried or anything.  I would have waited for her though.)  They said another fifteen minutes.  Finally, they came and got us at ten thirty.  Of course, she was in room six.  I knew it!!  She was in Ventricular Fibrillation, so they shocked her back to normal rhythm.  When we got back, she was so out of it.  She asked my sister if she got the sandpaper for the kitchen sink, and Cathy said yes.  I was wondering about that, when she turned around, looked at Jim and said, WTF???  She rambled when I talked to her too.  Something about calling Aunt Joan about it, and then Aunt Joan called back and someone came to pick it up on Friday or Saturday, she thought.  I was like okay, I'm sure you're right.  Kissed her and said I love you, and I was gonna head home.  At this point, I've been up since seven AM, and I'm stressed and ticked off.  I said goodbye to Cathy and Jim, and headed for the car.  It was easy to find, thank God, or I would have stood there, blinking, going where did I park, lol.  Got in, had a good cry, and drove home.  Then I got on the phone and shouted at Julie while scraping Randi off the ceiling on messenger.  So if all of you would please say a prayer for mom and Randi, I would appreciate it.  Hopefully, it will help.  Thanks for all of you listening to my rant.  I greatly appreciate it, and all the comments you leave.  I'm thankful for all my followers today.  Thank you all for being interested!!!  I hope you're all having a good day today!