Yesterday was my daughter's due date. As of today, we still don't have a baby. Jellybean is taking his/her sweet time in arriving but that's okay. Abby decided early in her pregnancy to have a home birth so the longer Jellybean stays put, the better developed, right? I'm becoming an anxious Grammy, though. I am so ready for this sweet bundle to get here, to find out if we will have a granddaughter or grandson. My sweet daughter is ready also. She is so excited to meet Jellybean and have her baby to hold and cuddle and love. Her pregnancy has been a good one. She has been healthy all though and not had any problems so I'm hoping for an easy birth for her. I just can't wait to meet Jellybean!!!!

In the meantime, I've been trying to get started on a new project. I finished the stacking bowls but found the balls too hard for my hands to work on. They are small and the finishing decreases are hard for me to do, especially since they need to be tight so no stuffing pops out. My right hand just could not handle it and the pain I felt was really bad so I gave up on the balls and will just give the bowls to the kids. I'm sure they will enjoy them and won't miss the balls.

My newest project is a blanket for a young man. One of my best friends has a son who was diagnosed with leukemia in May of 2011. After spending several months in the hospital, he was able to come home and was in remission soon after. In November of 2012, he started showing some signs of return and spent almost the whole month of December in the hospital receiving chemo and fighting infections. He is home now but will be traveling to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville soon to start the process of having a bone marrow transplant. He is 21 and his life, the past couple of years, has been really hard, on him and on his parents. I decided I wanted to do something personal for him so a blanket it is.

His favorite colors are black, red and gold. I chose black, red and grey to make the blanket and I'm going to us Lucy's Granny Stitch blanket pattern. I've done my practice stitch and it worked out so now I'm ready to begin. Wish me luck.

Last week we had an ice storm come through. Friday morning everything was covered in a layer of ice and it was soooo cold! I didn't leave the house at all and the Hubs decided to take a vacation day. He has to drive 50 miles one way to work each day and then get into a tractor trailer and drive another 50-60 miles to deliver freight. I was very happy that he decided to stay home.

It was mid afternoon before anything much could move on our street.  Today this sun is shining and the temps are in the upper 50's. Oh I so like sunshine! It makes me happy.

While I was at Hobby Lobby buying the yarn for my blanket, I found this.

Isn't it pretty? I came straight home and hung it on the door. Happy hearts for February. It makes me smile. February is one of my favorite months. There are lots of family birthdays in February. My grandson's is the 10th, my daughter's is the 12th and mine is the 13th. And of course, there's Valentine's Day, a perfectly wonderful excuse for chocolate eating! And who knows, Jellybean may decide to join the February birthdays!

Do you like Valentine's Day? Do you have happy hearts up in your home?

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you each have a wonderful day and week.

Hugs,
Sharon

First the Rain, then the Snow

After pouring rain most of the day Wednesday, we got snow. Great big fluffy snowflakes that quickly covered the ground and street. It started around 2:30 and by 3:00 the ground was covered.

The above photos were taken just after it started snowing. It was really surprising that after all the rain we had, the ground was so quickly white. The photos below are after a couple of hours of snowing.

It was still snowing when I took these around 4:30. I'm not sure exactly how much we got but I'm guessing a good 3 inches, maybe more.

Then joy of joys, the power went out at 5:30. It's been so long since the power was out, I had become complacent. I didn't have any candles and only 1 flashlight. Of course, at 5:30 EST in Tennessee, it is started to get dark so that just added to the fun. I spent the next 2 hours wrapped up in a sweater and blanket with the flashlight pointed toward the ceiling for a little bit of light. My sweet neighbor across the street came over to see if I was okay and if I needed anything. He and his wife are just young things and have a baby boy who turned 1 in September.

I learned last night that I am too dependent on electricity. We have no alternate heat source so I just had to wait it out. My recliner is electric so I couldn't stretch out and nap. I didn't have enough light to read a regular book and my Kindle's battery had run down while at the doctor's office. I couldn't crochet because, again, not enough light. Ah well, there's something to be said for quiet reflection.

Today's a new day. The sun is shining although it is really, really cold - 28F. The street is icy. I'm sitting in a warm house. Life is good.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.

Hugs,
Sharon

Still raining

It is still raining here in good ole Tennessee. The weatherman is predicting snow this afternoon and tonight. If it snows as much as it has rained, we won't be out until spring.

I got a lovely surprise this morning. Maybe lovely isn't quite the right word but I try to refrain from bad language on here. My grandchildren may one day read these posts. :)

I had a doctor's appointment this morning and went out early to start the truck. It hasn't been started since we got home on Saturday and since in the past, I've had vehicles that didn't like sitting that long, I wanted to be sure I had transportation. I unlocked the door which I never lock here at home and jumped in out of the rain to crank 'er up and sat in a seat of water!!!! Wet butt, wet back, wet everywhere. The Hubs had driven us home on Saturday and as it was warm, he had rolled down the window just a little bit, maybe an inch and a half. The truck had sat there all through the rain on Monday and Tuesday just getting a good soaking.

Uggggggg! I came back in and grabbed towels to put in the seat and over the back all the time getting soak to the bone. It's not easy to hold an umbrella and spread towels and dry the floor. When I left for the appointment, I got wet again trying to get into the seat without pushing the towels to the side. Thank goodness, the doctor appointment went well.

I'm now home and starting to dry. I'm thinking maybe a raincoat with a hood is in my future. How I reached the ripe old age of 61 and 11/12's without one is beyond me.

Hope you are warm and dry or cool and dry wherever you are. A big welcome to my newest follower. Thanks for dropping by.

Hugs,
Sharon

And the rain came down, down, down

Two solid days of rain here in Tennessee. It's dreary and wet and I'm not a happy camper. I have chosen to stay inside and not venture out in all the rain. I spent Monday resting up from the GA trip and aching from the rain. Today I have not had much achiness so I've "worked" a little bit, as in putting away laundry from Sunday and putting a roast in the slow cooker. The rest of the day I have watched TV, watched the rain and crocheted a little bit.

Good news! My son came home from the hospital today. He has recovered very well from the surgery and was only having to stay because of his INR levels. He takes anti-coagulant medication because of his artificial mitral valve and his levels have to be at a specific point. He had to stop the medication last Tuesday for the surgery and it was started back in the hospital the night of the surgery. It has taken this long to get the level back up to what it's suppose to be. He said he whined his way out of the hospital today. He has really, really missed his kids and I know they have missed him. I'm so happy the surgery went so well and that he's home and able to be with his family. He is very, very family oriented and his wife and kids mean everything to him. Happy days.

I have managed since coming back home to finished all the bowls for the stacking nesting bowls and have now started on the balls that go with them. The balls may take me longer than the bowls because they are small and slightly tedious, but that's just my opinion. I'm not good at small crocheted objects and tend to get bored easily with them. If I follow the pattern exactly, I will have to make 3 balls for each color per set and I've made 3 sets of bowls. That's a total of 54 balls! Good thing these aren't for any particular birthday or holiday. Who know when I'll finish these little things?

The colors are a lot more vibrant than the picture shows. But rainy day photos don't always show colors well, do they?

I hope you are having a wonderful day where you are. Thank you for stopping by.

Hugs,
Sharon

And The Surgery Was Fine

Today has to have been the longest day I have had in a very long time. It started at 4 AM when we got up to get ready to go to the hospital. We found out on our way down yesterday that Doug's surgery had been moved from 11 AM to 8:30 AM and we had planned to stay close to their home. A better plan would have been to stay closer in to Atlanta and we could have a few extra hours of sleep.

Anyway, we left the motel at 5:30 AM and got to the hospital around 6:45. Let me tell you, Emory Hospital is one BIG, HUGE place. There are miles and miles of hallways and I think I walked most of them today. First we parked and then had to take the forever long pedestrian bridge over to the hospital. When we got into the hospital proper, a very nice lady assisted us and explained where we needed to go for surgery. This involved walking down the first long hallway to the E elevator and then going to the 3rd floor surgical waiting room. However, we found out that he wasn't going to be on the surgical floor; he was going to have the procedure done in the Heart Cath lab.

Back to the E elevator, back done the long hallway, hunt the B elevator and go to the room. After we spent a few minutes with Doug and Trisha in his room, we went to the correct waiting area. As it was only 7:15 or so and the surgery was still over an hour away, we decided to go get some breakfast in the cafeteria. Back down on the B elevator, wwwwwaaaaayyyyy down the hallway again to the G elevator, down to the ground floor and boom, the cafeteria. We had a good breakfast (I made myself eat something even though I really didn't want anything).

After the meal, we went back to the G elevator and found that we could go to the 4th floor (the one we needed to be on) directly on that elevator. It was still a long walk but much shorter than the one we had done just to get to the cafeteria.

Anyway, the surgery was about 3-1/2 hours and was successful. Doug had a mitral valve replacement when he was fourteen and the sutures were failing and the valve was pulling away, leaving holes where the blood was leaking out. This is fairly common in mitral valve replacement but the leakage is usually around 10% and not a problem. Doug's had reached 40% and was considered severe. The surgeon placed 3 plugs around the valve to close the leak. He was able to use the arterial veins in Doug's legs. He ended up having 2 arterial punctures and 1 veinous puncturce. The echo they did during the procedure showed the plugs were in place and holding well.

He will have to stay in the hospital for a few more days to make sure the plugs are holding and to get his INR levels (Prothrombin time-the time it takes blood to clot) back to a good level. He has been on anticoagulant medication since his original surgery and this has to be at proper level before he can leave the hospital. He also had to lie flat for 6 hours after the surgery before he could start moving around and he won't be able to walk until tomorrow.

We left at 5 to head back to the motel and he was getting antsy about moving. He had one more hour to lie still and it was starting to get to him. But the important thing is the surgery was a success, he was awake and alert, and he had great color.  I really wanted to stay longer but Trisha was with him and taking very good care of him (she's a nurse) and I was absolutely worn out.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments and prayers. The love and companionship of the blogging world is wonderful and I have felt that love this week.

Hugs,
Sharon

Happy New Year, 2013

So today is a lazy day. It is raining, raining, raining here in Upper East Tennessee with a temp of 39 degrees. The rain makes it a lazy day for me because I don't like the damp and cold. I've got achy joints all over but that goes with the territory when you have RA. So I'm taking it slow and easy today.

The Hubs is working on another kitchen project. He decided the utensil drawer needed some organizing and for the past 2 days he has been downstairs cutting, grooving, sanding etc to make the drawer more usable. It's really looking good. I can't wait till he finishes so I can show you my new, organized drawer.

We've also decluttered it somewhat. There were items in there that hadn't been used in a coon's age. (Hillbilly coming through now. *smile*). So we sorted and culled and it will be easier to find things.

I have been working on the stacking, sorting bowls from here. I love these and I'm hoping the grandkids will also. I'm making 3 sets. I plan to give them to the GA grandbabies, the Tennessee grandbaby (even though Jellybean will be too small for a while to enjoy them) and my "Morristown grandson", the little boy who lives across the street. I am enjoying this project so much. The bowls are so easy to make and I'm loving the colors. I'm using the leftover yarn from Jellybean's blanket  so the colors are really bright. I have 2 more bowls to go for each set, an orange one and a red one. Then I will need to make the balls for the sorting part. It's been a relaxing project for the time between Christmas and the New Year.

I have several projects rolling around in my head and I probably need to write them down. I tend to forget things, sometimes. *giggle*

I need to get started on Elijah's birth sampler. Poor baby, he will be a year old in February and I still haven't started. I also need to work on the design for Jellybean's sampler. The Hubs bought me PC Stitch software for Christmas so I'm hoping I can use that to get the design the way I want it. I have already done a rough sketch and it has met Abby's approval.

I also plan on making the GA grandbabies a blanket each this year and start on my Patchwork blanket for my bed. I've been inspired by Lucy at Attic24, Heather at Little Tin Bird and Jacquie at Bunny Mummy. I've started buying the yarn and I'm trying to decide if I want to do granny squares like Lucy and Jacquie or if I want to use Heather's pattern. I really like the simplicity of Heather's pattern and I'm leaning strongly in that direction.

There are also several cross stitch projects in the cabinet to get started on. This year is going to be so crafty, I hope. All of you have inspired me so much this year and I want to do so many things. Hopefully, procrastination got lost in 2012 and won't find me in 2013.

I want to thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post. I may not know each of you personally but I feel so close to you. The well wishes for my son's surgery have been so nice and comforting. Thank you, kind bloggy friends, for your words of encouragement and comfort. And a special thank you to Ellen. You have been so kind and sweet and I treasure your emails.

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope this year is brings more highs than lows, more laughter than tears, more projects, walks, rides and trips.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my little blog. Your encouragement has made my foray into the blogging world a wonderful thing.

Hugs,
Sharon