MIA

I've obviously been missing in action. :-D I had the nuclear stress test and echocardiogram last Thursday, and on Friday my GP's office called to let me know that my blood work, stress test and cardiogram were all normal. What a huge relief that is! Now, if we can just get the biopsy done on the thyroid mass, and decide what to do about it, I should be about finished with this mess. :) Have any of you bloggers noticed how many of us have February birthdays???? Wow, bunches of us are Feb. babies! Like-minded folks, huh? LOL My 5-1 is fast approaching...on the 26th of this month. Where did the years go? The past 15 years, in particular, have really flown by. We finally have thawed out a bit. For some reason, this has seemed like a really long, cold Winter to me. I'm definitely ready for Spring with all of her fresh, warm beauty calling us to come out and play in the sunshine. I'm ready for some dirt therapy. :-D It's supposed to be low 60s today, just a hint of things to come. :-) We have had a couple of ferocious thunderstorms today, the first one getting me out of bed at 4:30 this morning. :c Right now, tho, the sun is shining and I'm going to take the "boys" outside for a while. I hope to eventually get back to some quilty posts, but for now you'll have to settle for 'LIP' (Life in Progress) (borrowed from another blog friend--thanks!!) . Don't you just love that??? LIP---just perfect. :D

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sending you rose wishes and chocolate dreams! :D

Yukky Health Issues Update

so feel free to skip this one if you're so inclined. I know that some of my family try to keep up with me through this blog, so I need to let them know how things are. :)

I had an appt. with my GP yesterday (and I do just love this dr!!), and he assured me that I'm a very healthy 50-year-old (well, okay, soon-to-be 51 LOL). He was quite put out that the endocrinologist scared me to death by telling me that my heart was in a precarious position. Dr. Hicks (GP) vehemently disagreed with that diagnosis, altho he does agree that I have an irregular heart rate and need the beta blocker. So, in order to put my mind at rest, he has ordered an echocardiogram and nuclear stress test, which I will spend the ENTIRE day having done on Thursday (day after tomorrow). I'll go spend tomorrow night with Sug (my seester) cause I live an hour away from the city I have to go to get have this done---and I have to be at the hospital at 7:30 a.m.!!!! What an ungodly hour LOL! He also had the lab draw 10 vials of blood (I'm not sure I had much left after that ROFL) for a battery of tests to rule out all kinds of nasty things. :) Then, after we make sure that the ole ticker is healthy, he will have the biopsy done on the thyroid mass, just to make SURE that there's no cancer in there. He also gave me an antibiotic for a sinus infection, which should help me feel better soon. :) The weight gain (afraid so :c) he attributes to the thyroid...as a matter of fact, he thinks that EVERYTHING that is going on with me right now is thyroid-related. So, hopefully, with his help we can start to get some of these issues that have been nagging at me and robbing me of my energy and interest resolved. I was very pleased with my visit yesterday (did I already tell you I really love this dr LOL)!

I'm still working on my first block of Whig Rose (from Simple Blessings book). Honestly, I really haven't felt like doing anything, including sewing. Hopefully, Spring will be here soon (altho if you look at the Weather Channel today, you would NEVER believe that!! LOL) and I'll have my energy and enthusiasm back.

The photo is of a couple of things that I made for Christmas that I hadn't shared with you. :)

Although I haven't been posting lately, I have been reading everyone else's blog, and I'm truly grateful for all of my blog friends and your wonderful comments of encouragement. :)

I'm Still Alive :P

I just haven't had a good opportunity to do any posts lately. I'll try to bring things up to date tomorrow, as Randy will be gone all day and I will have the computer to myself. :)

Credit for Pin

I couldn't remember where I had gotten the idea for the flower pin. Today I went back and found it, so I want to give credit to jujulovespolkadots for her wonderful idea and tutorial. Thanks so much for sharing the pattern with us. They are easy, fast, and fun to make.

Can You See My Shadow

I feel like that ground hog that they use to see if he can see his shadow -- just poking my head up out of a hole! LOL I'm still dealing with the crud that I've had for a close to two weeks now, but I am starting to feel like I'm going to live! Yea!!! :P Randy just left for a show in Dalton, GA. We did not get the snow that had been predicted, nor did we get the ice. As much as I would love to have a good snow, I was glad we didn't get it this time since he's on the road.

I'm straightening up the house a bit, and I'm going to put some potatoes on to cook to make me a pot of "broccoli cheese potatoe soup" by a recipe that a blogger friend's sister was kind enough to send me. Randy doesn't care for these types of soups, so I knew what I would be making for Super Bowl Weekend at my house!! :) Yummmm, I can hardly wait to have it ready to eat...

Then I'm going to sit down by the fire and do needleturn applique. I also need to work on my February 'bluework' snowman. :) My friend, Evonne, and I are doing one of Kim Diehl's patterns from her book "Simple Blessings". I'm sure that she will have hers together long before I do LOL but it will be fun to motivate each other, and see how different they turn out at the end. :)

I made the heart wallhanging several years ago, and it's one of my favorite pieces. The other picture is a pin that I made from one of the crafty blogger's pattern for a Christmas gift. :) It was fun...I'll make more of those in the future.

Gotta go peel those potatoes now. Everyone stay safe and warm today!

It's Been a While

Since I last posted. I've been under the weather with the cold-type crud, and just have not felt like doing anything more than I absolutely had to this week. I did take Dewey (our oldest wienie dog) to get his teeth cleaned on Monday, and found out that I can no longer get his phenibarbitol at the vet (he has seizures). No, now they have to call it in to a pharmacy. Great! Just great! Another trip that will have to be made once a month. And another buck for Wal-Mart since that's the closest store to me. I HATE that store! So, on Tuesday, I made a Wal-Mart run for groceries, meds and sundries. :) The rest of the week I have literally spent mostly on the couch in front of the woodstove. I DO love this woodstove!! :) I haven't done any sewing. I have been reading, tho. My reading has gotten pushed to bedtime -- it used to be that I didn't sit down that I didn't pick up a book and read. Then I got caught up in quilt books and magazines, and my novels got relegated to "right before sleep". So, I've been snuggled up reading. And you know what? It's going to be really cold and windy here for the next few days, so that's probably what I'll spend my time doing then too, along with a bit of applique that I've started. Oh, and I do want to get my setting squares on my angels. And I'm still playing with the bluework snowmen. I'll get around to posting some pictures eventually. I have made almost daily rounds reading blogs, keeping up all of you high achievers LOL. I just haven't even felt like posting comments, but I'm hoping for a better week ahead. :P Hope everone is having a lovely weekend.

Raggedy Angels

I have finally gotten my angels' hairstyles done, given them a bit of 'make up' :P, and given them a little raggedy quilt to hold. Now they just need their setting triangles and quilting. :P I have really had a good time playing with these. And during the course of working on them, I realized I'm just not in the mood for small applique right now, so I'm reneging on the Applique Designs for the time being. My mood calls for large folk art, maybe Kim Diehl, or Blackbird Designs, I've even gone so far as to pull out my Quilting the Garden since I've cut several blocks' worth of templates a long time ago, but just couldn't decide on fabrics to use. I've also been poring over Jan Patek books. Then, there's that plaid bear paw quilt that I want to do, and the churn dash, and my Tree Angel keep whispering to me...sew many quilts, sew many hard decisions. LOL

Look What I Got

I received this cute, cute fabric 'postcard' , which is my first one, along with this panel wallhanging from Dorothy. ;P Thank you so much!! I don't know how to put links in here yet, sorry. :c Aren't they fun??? I was so excited when the package came in the mail the other day. I'm always like a kid at Christmas when I get packages in the mail. LOL

I've cut the first pieces out for my Applique Designs. Finally. LOL I should be out at the grocery store right now, but it's another one of those 'stay by the fire' days...and rather than embroidery...or applique...I've been prowling through quilt books again. If I NEVER made a quilt from any of them, I can tell you I've gotten my money's worth from them cause I've literally worn them out just looking at the them and dreaming about all of those quilts that I would love to have stacked up. LOL

I've just made a fresh pot of coffee--Mmmm-- and I'm going to sit and sew a few minutes before I get on the phone and the other computer for work. Hope all of you are staying snug and warm...and that all of you that have gotten so much ice still have your power. I've been watching the weather channel and thinking of all of you.

Okay, I'm Back

But I have to share this one more thing--you see, the God of my understanding wears this most lovely quilted patchwork coat. And this coat has two HUGE pockets, one on each side. One of the pockets is a 'bottomless' pocket, and I can go tuck in all of my worries, troubles, tears, rants, whatever, whenever I'm ready to let go of them, and He just takes care of them. ;P The other one is where I put all of my joys, and treasures, and blessings--and I ususally have to just STUFF them in there cause that pocket has a way of filling up. Okay, there, now my secret is out. That's MY vision---and I'm sticking to it!! LOL

I've posted a picture of the beginning of my January Bluework Snowman, just to prove that I really have started on it. *laugh* No picture yet of my AD...that will come, in time! :) The next picture is what it looks like outside with winds howling, to boot! And the third picture is where I'm headed again---in front of the fire with a cup of tea. :P

Warning--Heavy Ramble Ahead

I have been caught up in the struggles of a young man fighting to live since a car accident on December 18, 2006. He lives on the opposite side of the country, and has pulled through very serious injuries, oh so slowly, by baby steps and searing pain and agony. He's still in the hospital in a very precarious state, and he still has many mountains to climb. Last summer, I landed in a blog titled "Molly's Page", a blog of a young (18 years old) girl who was so traumatically and seriously injured on the night of her Senior prom. That girl and her family absolutely humbled me in my daily life with whatever 'perceived' problems or struggles that might have been going on in my life at that point. I am here to tell you, people, that I have no idea of what a 'bad' day is compared to these young people. I have no idea what 'faith' or 'courage' or 'strength' really means in light of what these families have gone through and are still going through. Reading about Molly and her daily struggles, and now Mark, has just really made me stop in my tracks and consider my life, my good health, my many many blessings. It also sends me reeling back into those questions that I've never yet found any answers to (and probably won't in this lifetime), and that I've carried with me for what seems like all of my life. Questions about life--questions and fears about death--did 'we' choose these paths in another realm before we landed here in this body (I'll never forget the first time that I read the book "Embraced by the Light" and how angry it made me--I've since gone back to it many times, and each time it comforts me a bit more), how can some seem to be able to bear soooo much with such grace, and some seem to hardly be able to struggle under what is seemingly the lightest of burdens...See, I forewarned you--RAMBLES AHEAD--and ones that are heavy and not easily read. Feel free to skip this post. I have no idea where it will end...it may not end...it may just fade away. I am just working on releasing some heart-felt stuff that feels like it's dammed up in my chest. Any time I read of accidents like these I naturally go back, back, back to Eric...and Steve...Maybe I will just go have a good cry in front of the woodstove, and then move on to some chores. I'll be back later.

Randy's Eye Problem

Pam left a comment on a previous post asking about Randy's eye. Thanks so much for the info you posted there, Pam! And also thanks for asking if it's better. It's not. As a matter of fact, he was in excrcuiating pain with it last night. Today, the pain isn't as severe, but the redness seems to have returned with a vengeance. He also seems to have more intense pain by nighttime, and we think it may be due to having used the eye all day. He doesn't see the eye dr. again until Thursday. One of the things that really troubles him about it right now is if he covers his right eye, he can't see anything at all with the left eye, total blackness (the one with the inflammation). So, needless to say, we're both really concerned about whatever is going on with it.