Passing through

Hidey-ho, neighbors! I'm passing through to show you a few things. I recently joined Blueberry Heart's Halloween swap and my swap partner sent me some great things. I loved getting this package. Want to see??? Of course you do.

All these cute little packages wrapped in Halloween colors.

Don't you just love this card???

Goodies, goodies, goodies.

Love this pillow. It now resides on my bed.

Bat, Witch's hat and spider cookie cutters

Napkins

An adorable little pumpkin

Ribbon

As Garfield would say, "Candy, Candy, Candy!" YUM

Fabric. This will come in handy for a backing for my silhouette Halloween (if I ever finish it).

It's not looking good for this Halloween.  :)

Thank you so much, Melanie, for the sweet gifts. Go visit her blog at http://thepatchworkrobin.blogspot.co.uk/.

She has now received my package so I can show you all the things I got together for her.

I have to say, I really enjoyed this swap. Thank you so much, Blueberry, for hosting this. 

The weather has been really crazy around here lately. Last week, it was cold, cold, cold. I had to finally break down and turn on the heat because I was aching so much from the cold. Now this week, we are having temps in the high 60's and low 70's. I'll take it. I love warm days and cool nights. It's the cold days and even colder nights that I don't like.

My Bandit boy is doing great. His incision healed perfectly and completely and the staples were removed today. He was a very good boy and didn't have to be sedated again. He did quiver a little bit but he got lots of loving from me and the vet's wife and when it was all over, he got his special Saturday treat. He acts like he feels so much better and he's not mad at me anymore.

As I said in an earlier post, my local thread shop is closing December 31. I have several projects I have stored away and last week I went through them all and determined what I needed to complete them. I have plenty of thread. I made an afghan one year and my Hubby bought me all the thread to do it. He actually overbought and I still have tons of thread. Most of the fabric I needed was bought when the book or pattern was purchased but I still needed some specialty threads. Last Friday, I scooted down and bought all the thread I needed to do some canvas work. It was all specialty thread like Weeks Overdyes and Caron's Wildflowers. (This is my Christmas present from Hubby so I was able to get everything I needed) I have never done canvas work so I'm looking forward to working on that this winter when it's too cold to go outdoors. I also have 2 baby samplers to do. I am a bit slow on these sometimes. My oldest grandson, Eli, will be 2 in February and I haven't started his yet. I designed it myself and that took me a while. And I also have one to do for James, who is, "gasp" almost 9 months old!! I'm designing his also and have the basics done. I just need to do the final tweeks and get the pattern printed.

Life is good here for the most part. We have had an avalanche of unexpected expenses but I'm rolling with it. Bandit's surgery, a repair to the dish washer, a fuel pump on one of the vehicles and now Hubby needs a crown redone. And I just ordered a smartphone. Thankfully, it didn't cost anything and when I change plans, the cell phone bill will be the same or a little less than it is now. I don't know how well this 62 year old will get along with a smart phone but I'm about to give it a try. Wish me luck.

Thank you for stopping by! I always enjoy knowing you have been here and I love it when you leave comments. Have a wonderful day or night wherever you are.

Hugs,
Sharon

Minor surgery

I just read Lizzie*Kate's blog about her minor surgery on her finger. If you don't follow this blog, you need to go read this post. It will tickle your funny bone. It has reminded me so much about the surgeries I have had and the aftermath of those surgeries.

Several years ago, I had to have periodontal surgery. Suffice to say, if you don't brush and care for your teeth you may be faced with this AND you certainly don't want to. It involves lots of cutting and scraping and you look like you have been slapped in the mouth more times that you can count. The surgery itself wasn't painful; I was in lala land for most of it having taken a sedative both before we left home and just before the procedure. I took a walkman and listened to an audio book (at least I started listening). I can't tell what the book was or what it was about but it helped soothe me into sleep.

I know none of this seems funny but that part came after the surgery. The Hubs was with me to drive me home and when I came out to the waiting after the procedure, he went sort of white. I asked him if he was okay and he, being the strong man that he is, said, "Of course."

He helped me to the car because I was still loopy from the medication and then, on doctor's orders, took a pain pill and ate some chocolate pudding. The office was close to the on ramp for the interstate and as we started toward that ramp, the Hubs pulled over to the side of the road. I looked over at him and asked what was wrong and he just said he needed some fresh air. He walked to the roadside and passed out! I'm sitting in the truck, so loopy I almost don't know where I am, and I'm calling to him, "Are you okay?" Luckily there were some good Samaritans following us and they pulled over and 2 went to check on Hubby and one came to check on me. I had the cell phone trying to call 911 but couldn't seem to find the numbers. I held the phone out to the nice man and asked him to dial 911 because I couldn't find the right numbers. Did I mention I was loopy!!!!

Soon we had a police car and an ambulance on the side of the road and were the center of attention of the passers-by. The EMT's wanted to take him to the hospital to be checked out and he was refusing to go. I had already gotten myself into the driver's seat and buckled up prepared to follow the ambulance in my loopy state when one of the EMT's came to the truck to tell me he was refusing to go. So I fumbled out of the seat belt and walked (staggered) back to the ambulance. I told Hubby to go on to the hospital. He asked who was going to bring me and I told him proudly that I would bring myself. He stared at me in disbelief as I announced to the police officer standing there that I had had periodontal surgery a little while ago and had had a pain pill but I was "F---i----n----e!" and could drive. The officer very politely said, "Yes ma'am, I'm sure you are." Anyway, Hubby refused to be taken to the emergency room and we came home on the condition that he would go to the doctor as soon as I was settled, which he did after asking a neighbor to check on me in a little while. She says she did check on me but I don't remember her ever coming in the bedroom.

It turned out that Hubby had a panic attack when he first saw me. Frankly, I didn't think I looked that bad but I must have been a horrible sight. Luckily, there were no ill effects from the panic attack or my surgery and it makes for a good laugh.

Thanks for dropping by.


Hugs,
Sharon

Long time no see

Hello dear bloggy friends. Been a while I know. I've had some issues since the P&P twins moved in. You know who they are, don't you? Those nasty little creatures that like to wreck your world and cause you no end of trouble. I'm talking, of course, about Pain and Procrastination. I have tried packing their bags and sitting them beside the front door but they just don't seem to take the hint. I thought they would only be visiting for a few days but they don't seem to be in any hurry to leave.

Pain has been hiding in corners and jumping out at me at the oddest times. And he is really one sneaky little imp. He likes to move around because it "makes things interesting". Hmmph! I can do without his seemingly endless bag of tricks. One day he is in my hands, the next in my feet and yet another day, he's decided my back is the bestest place he has ever been. I can hear him giggling as he squirms around trying to get comfortable. Blasted little torturer!

And Procrastination!!! What can I say about her? And yes, she is a girl. It would make much more since if she were a he but that's not the case. She lets me make all the to do lists I want. In fact, she encourages me to make them. Then she does her little dance and whispers in my ear about how nice it would be to just let that job slide for now and go read a book. She has even made a mess of my projects. I began sorting through my cross stitch projects 2 weeks ago so I would know what I have ready to go and what I need to buy for and she got all huffy and said that I shouldn't be making such a mess on the sofa. And then she called her twin, Pain, over and had him do his back pain dance. Yikes! I need a good exterminator.

I have managed to work a little bit in spite of my unwanted guests. I am almost finished with the Halloween silhouette and I'm in love with it. I promise pictures soon. I had to put it aside for a while because I joined Blueberry Heart's Halloween swap and I'm just about to wrap that project up. I have one more thing to finish and then it's off to the UK for Melanie at Patchwork Robin to enjoy. At least I hope she does. When she receives it, I'll post photos of what I sent.

I have to work now on my "Sampler of Many Stitches" for the class I've been taking. I haven't finished the homework for the second class and need to get that done before the last class on the 19th. Sadly, my local needlework shop is closing December 31. I am really going to miss this shop. It's the only one in our town and I will have to travel an hour to get to the nearest one. We do have a Hobby Lobby but I've become accustomed to her quality of product and it just doesn't seem the same. I will have to go on a big spending spree before she closes so I can stock up. That was one reason for the sort out of cross stitch projects.

Last week was one for the books around here. On Tuesday, my husband got up complaining with pressure in his chest and back and saying that his left arm felt funny. We went to the ER where tests were done (EKG and blood work) and thankfully, he did not have a heart attack. He did, however, have to stay in the hospital overnight to be monitored to make sure there wasn't anything going on. Everything was fine and he is back to work with no ill effects.

Then on Friday, I had to have the mobile vet in to check on Bandit, my husky. He has a mass on his left side that wasn't clearly visible until we finally got him all brushed out from his winter coat. Then it became very obvious. I don't know how long it has been there but the last couple of weeks it has seemed to get larger. The vet talked about different things and said he couldn't be sure what was going on without some tests. He did say the mass was attached and that's not a good thing. Bandit had to be sedated in order for him to get blood to do the tests he wanted because he totally did not like the clippers or the alcohol. Poor thing was out of it for an hour and a half and then was really wobbly on his feet for the rest of the night. But he did get some good sleeping in. We are just waiting now for the results of the blood work to see how to proceed. Bandit doesn't seem to be having any problems. He is bouncy and wants to play - for a little while. He seems content and doesn't seem to be having any pain so I'm hoping for the best.

So there you have the story of my absence. I can feel the twins peaking over my shoulder trying to get my attention but it's not working tonight. Maybe they will get tired of me ignoring them and pick up their bags and head on out the door. Only time will tell.

As always, thank you so much for visiting and thank you for your comments. I really appreciate them. I hope you have a wonderful day/night wherever you might be.

Hugs,
Sharon

Pretty Hare Giveaway

Just popping in to let everyone know that Stephanie is having a giveaway. You can go here to see the post and get registered. If truth be told, I would much rather no one did because I SO WANT THAT PRETTY HARE! But I'll be nice and let you know about it if you don't already. :)

Be back soon to show you my sampler from the class I'm taking and progress on the Halloween silhouette.

Working and planning also for my Halloween swap partner. Such fun.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Hugs,
Sharon

Halloween Swap

I have joined the swap hosted by Blueberry at Blueberry Heart. Last year I joined and did the Autumn swap and met a great blogger friend, Amanda, from Crafty in the Med. I had really just started blogging and I felt this was a great way to meet new bloggers and have some fun. I had a great time last year and I'm looking forward to this year.

I decided to do the Halloween swap this year just to change it up. I've started gathering things together and have emailed my swap partner, Melanie at http://thepatchworkrobin.blogspot.co.uk. I'm just waiting for her to get back to me.

That's all I have for now. It's been a weird week of ups and downs but you guys know how that goes. I've taken advantage of the downs and been working on my silhouette cross stitch. It's really coming together and I can't wait to finish it so I can show everyone.

Monday is Labor Day here in the US, our last "official" holiday of summer. I'm ready for some cooler weather. The heat and humidity have really aggravated my asthma and I've had some trouble getting enough air into my lungs.

Have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Sharon

Hi ya'll

I know it's been a long time. July was a hectic month and August turned out to be the same. On July 10th, I had some tests done and everything was AOK. It's nice to get good news for a change. Now if I can just get this silly shoulder calmed down, maybe I can get some work done around here. I also visited my daughter, SIL and baby James in July. That trip turned out to be a hard one for me. I went down also to visit a friend of mine whose son is battling leukemia. He got a marrow transplant earlier in the month and was finally able to move to an apartment near the hospital. He and the family have to stay close (within 30 minutes) to the hospital for 100 days. If all continues to go well, he should be able to come home for good in October. Back to my trip story. I had a good drive down. It's about a 4 hour drive and traffic was really easy. I stopped a couple of times. According to my doctor, I'm suppose to stop every hour but that just makes the trip longer. I checked into the motel I normally stay at only to find that the key card was not working on the door I use. It worked fine on my room door but the door to the outside where I park wouldn't read it. On well, got all my stuff into the room and hurried off to see my baby boy. He is growing so much. He gives me the biggest smile when he sees me.  Back at the motel, I got ready for bed and was having a good sleep. Around 3 AM, I got up to use the bathroom and the fire alarm went off. All I can say is, it's a good thing I was already in the bathroom! I grabbed my shoes and purse and headed outside. It was amazing to see the other guests just standing in the hallway, not making any attempt to leave. Some even went back to their rooms! Luckily there was no fire; just a broken water pipe. We were finally allowed back into our rooms around 5:30 AM. The trip went downhill from there. I started having pain in my hip and leg on Friday but managed to get to visit Robin anyway. Thank goodness for my sweet daughter. She drove us and we had a great visit. Saturday wasn't much better and when I got ready to leave on Sunday, I had to call Abby and Doug to help me load the truck. We had breakfast together before I hit the road. It took me over 3 days to recover.

August started out in high gear. It's been a month of doctor visits and tests but things are fine. I signed up for a sampler class at my local stitch shop and that was the first day of August. I have to say, I'm not really good at working on linen but this class gave me some confidence. We learned several different stitches. Each stitch creates a row on the sampler and it's been a joy to do. I have all my homework done and I'm ready for the next session in September.

I'm also working on a Halloween cross stitch now and loving every minute of it.The fabric is an overdyed orange and uses only black thread. It will be a silhouette when finished. I don't know what it is about it but I am enjoying it so much and can't help but smile each time I lay it in my lap to re-thread my needle. :)

I went to the mail box, a few days ago, during a sprinkling rain and wow, a memory just came popping into my head. We have these very tall Willow Oak trees which give tons of shade in our front yard. They make the porch a really nice place to sit even on hot days if the humidity isn't really high. Walking to the mail box under the trees, I noticed there was very little rain hitting me. When I was a kid, there were big maple trees in the front yard of Grampa and Gramma Broyles' house. The leaves blocked the rain in all but the really hard downpours and we kids could play under them and never get wet. It is a sweet summertime memory of rain, wet grass and the drip, drip, drip of the raindrops on the leaves. Those days keep pulling me back and I feel a peace when I'm wandering around in my memories.

Below is an oil painting of my grandparents house. One of my aunts hired a local artist to do one for each of her sisters. When my Aunt Shirley passed away, Uncle Billy called my Mom and told her he wanted me to have her painting. It hangs in my hallway and I can take a trip down memory lane each time I look at it.

I had to take it at an angle because there's not enough room in the hall to get back far enough.

This past weekend, Sweet Baby James came for a visit. We were so happy to see him and his mom and dad. He's sitting up on his own now and has two teeth. Little man is growing way too fast for his Grammy. He handled the trip fairly well except for one meltdown when they were about an hour away. He was just so tired of sitting in his car seat and Abby said he really cried hard. When she got him out of his seat and turned him so that he could see me, the biggest grin spread across his face. I love that he knows me and is happy to see me. Everyone had a great time. The Hubs and SIL went to ride a trail up north of us. It's a 60 mile round trip and the Hubs loves riding it. They spent the day and my daughter and I and James spent some great time together running around. The weekend was such a great one that on Monday, when they left, I sat down to watch a show on TV and fell asleep in my recliner. I slept for 2-1/2 hours. James wore Grammy out!!!! But I wouldn't have it any other way.

I hope to start blogging more regularly. The weather is getting cooler (most days) and that makes me feel better. I'm dealing with some pain but that's a normal thing these days. I've learned to just go on and take lots of breaks. When I was younger and had better health, I would have loved to be able to justify my breaks as needed. I just didn't realize how lucky I was that I had mobility and pain free days. I guess I'm not ever satisfied with my lot in life. But actually now I am. I don't enjoy the painful days or the days I can't get out of bed, but I'm happy to still be able to get up and do what I can. I am learning to accept that life is slower now and that I have to adapt.

As always, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are have a great summer/winter wherever you may be.

Hugs,
Sharon/Grammy

Thank You!

Just a quick post to say thank you so much for all the sweet things you left on my blog. I'm glad you enjoyed the cross stitch and the old pictures. As I told Annie, I hope to do more posts about my younger days. I think this blog is a perfect place to record those and maybe one day, my kids and grandkids will enjoy reading about my early life.

I also have an apology to make. I thought all the comments on my blog were showing up in my gmail account. However, I have discovered that this is not so. I will now be looking more carefully and trying to respond to your comments. After all, if you take the time to comment, I should take the time to respond. I love this blogging community and all the wonderful people I have "met".

I'm close to the end of my first year of blogging and I have 47 followers. I'm really excited about this. I'm going to host my first ever giveaway at the one year mark or when I get 50 followers, whichever comes first.
I'm pulling some things together.

Thanks for dropping by.

Hugs,
Sharon