Saturday, December 29, 2007

What did I do this Summer and Fall?

Barb was a stitching fool this Summer and Fall..... What with John being in the hospital, and then needing a "Nurse" for a month, I spent a lot of time just sitting around watching the dust collect! The opportunity was too good to pass up, so I finished some WIPs, started a couple of Christmas ornaments, and in all..... aggrevated the heck out of my tendonitis! lol Oh.... and first of all, I made a few trips to Walmart when they sold off their DMC floss.... first for Michele, then for me..... here's mine:




And here's the finished pieces:
Heart in Hand "Hark!"


Another HIH "Wee Halloween Bird"


Ewe and Eye and Friends "Mommy and Me" Tuck Pillows for Michele's new Grand Sons:




Michele's Birthday Present.... "Another Day in Paradise" by (I can't remember who.... sorry)




Here's Michele's Christmas Present.... There's a neat French web blog that has all kinds of "freebie" mittens.... This is the "Tropic" themed mitten, front and back:



Prairie Schooler Santa 2005 was fun to do..... I was a little intimidated about the quilt, but it was really simple!:


This was a little handout from my LNS, A Stitcher's Garden in Manlius, NY... From Just Another Button Company, I've had the backing for years! I was probably going to make pajamas for Chris when my "almost" 31 year old Son was little....lol:



Here is The Prairie Schooler book 133 "Winter Wind":


....and #137 "Summer Breeze":


And also..... #132 Autumn Leaves:


I'll eventually get around to #136 "Spring Has Come" before the end of Winter.... lol

Enjoy!

Wow! It's Been A While

I can't believe that I haven't posted since last Summer? Where have I been, anyway? If Anita hadn't left a comment on my blog (Thanks, Anita!), it would probably have been the "dead of Winter" before I blogged again.

So.... Here's my life for the last 3 or so months, as I remember it!

In September, Colin turned a year old. It seems like yesterday that we were all surrounding the labor bed at St Joe's, while Heather vacillated about whether or not Colin would be her last....... You should have seen the look on Shawn's face when she "announced" that she guessed she would NOT have her tubes tied as long as they were "in there" to pluck Colin out! Ah, yes...... Anyway, Colin has teeth, walks, and occasionally says something understandable!

John and Shawn slaved in a blinding storm underneath the "Summer Palace" for the last time in the middle of September. Their job is not quite done..... There was a HUGE hole in our ductwork that was about 7 feet long. I Always wondered why the back of the trailer never kept cold with the air conditioning in the Summer? DUH! Poor Shawn.... everytime he came out from under the trailer, he was just covered in grime. He must have scraped and cut his poor bald head 20 times.He never complained, though..... just kept plugging along! Bless his heart!

John and Barb didn't have enough to do the day that we closed camp, so we went into Watertown for the afternoon, and went on a mission to find a new headboard for the spare bedroom at camp. Four hours later, we have a new beautiful Cherry headboard!

In October, John got ready to have his rotator cuff repair. The surgery was a piece of cake and Barb was more than jealous! THEN......disaster set in..... John contracted what we were intially told (in order for him to have the "heavy duty" drugs ), but now denies was MRSA. Instead, to cover their posteriors, the new diagnosis became "An unidentified antibiotic-resistant strain of stafflococus." .... Sheesh! It never "cultured" as MRSA because John had taken a weeks course of an antibiotic pre-op, was given IV Vancomycin in the OR, and 7 days post op, when the sutures were removed, was give a third antibiotic for his "little surface infection." I don't mean to sound vindictive - these things happen - I just get a kick out of how far our litigious society has come that prominent physicians have to "dance" around a diagnosis these days. Anyway...... Poor John got bounced back into the OR for an "I & D" and they had to "un-do" the repair and the deltoid for 24 hours with a wound vac attached. Then, he had to go back to the OR and fortunately, the repair was able to be re-done. He spent 5 days in the hospital, and a month on PIC line IV Vancomycin..... tethered to his IV pole for over 5 hours per day. The poor guy..... It's a good thing he was so sick, or I would NEVER have heard the end of it! The end of the story is that he's better now, has just begun PT, and still hopes to go on his golf outing in March. My suggestion is "Go! If you can only putt, then just Putt(z)!"

That brings us to our Thanksgiving! For Canadian Thanksgiving, we had produced our first ever "Trash Can Turkey," with many thanks to Nash and Rendy for patiently showing us how to do it last Summer. It was so spectacular (even my Father in Law raved about it!), that we decided to do it all again for American Thanksgiving! Aren't we smart? Do you sense disaster here? Well.....

The bird went under the can at the appropriate hour in a 42 degree drizzle..... Chris and Shannon(did I mention that Our Son has a "steady?") had 2 dinners to eat that day, so it HAD to be done on time!!!! You guessed it! The darn bird was 2 hours late! We never thought to take into consideration the difference in the outside temperature...... DUH! Poor Chris and Shannon were ravenous when they got to their SECOND dinner, and enjoyed it more! They came back to our house on Saturday to see what they had "missed" the first time around.

Christmas...... ahhhh yes..... It was a quiet one at our house. Heather, Shawn and the boys went to Texas to see Shawn's family, so it was John, me, Chris and Shannon. The Prime Rib was perfectly medium rare, the cream cheese mashed potatoes were without lumps, the green beans were al dente, and the Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle was subperb! It wasn't until 1AM on Boxing Day that Barb awoke with that feeling that said..... "Get to the bathroom quick!!!!" I spent every 15 minutes "hugging Huey" as my husband says.... from 1 AM to 1 PM. Then the fever set in. Can you say severe dehydration? I slept until the 27th, and spent that day back in what had become my "haven," getting rid of everything I've ever eaten in my life!!!! "Who needs Weight Watchers, anyway?" How do beauty queens, and actresses DO this all the time? Anyway..... Barb is on the mend today the 28th, and Gatorade is my new favorite cocktail......

Happy New Year!

Here's a pic of the headboard.


And..... Here's the FIRST Trash Can Turkey..... You won't see the second! lol