I'm Still Here

 I have been absent but I am still here. These last few months have not been the best but even I am tired of going on about it so, big girl pants firmly in place and lets look for the positive.

I finally got a flimsy sandwiched up and ready to quilt. First one this year and its already the end of MAY. I am shocked and appalled. Never mind its all ready to go and I will be back in my happy place soon enough. This one is a donation quilt. I have another donation flimsy ready and then two for me sitting in the project box. I still need to put the boarder on the Christmas quilt. I am joined up to do a fall quilt a long but so far all I have done on it is print out the patterns each week. I have not actually started construction.

I have been working away at knitting toques and scarves from, my excess yarn stash. I like to make them. then donate to the local Safe and Warm Shelter plus a charitable organization that helps people in need. Like all my projects this year I have had a slow start but I'm starting to hit my stride. Three hats and three scarves finished so far, Scarf number four on the needles.

The Banker is heading off on vacation next week and Teddy Bear has family coming to visit. I will need to fend for myself in the coming days. I may tackle my goal sooner than later.  I have been trying to talk myself into making a shopping trip to Shoppers Drug Mart, This may be the final push that I need to actually go. I'm going to be taking myself to No Cook this Friday. The Banker usually picks me up but she has another social commitment that night. 

This weekend I have a young fellow coming to clean up my yard. He is trying to earn enough to buy virtual reality glasses as his parents told him he has to earn the money on his own, The Banker will be with him to help supervise. I was going to have to hire someone to do it so I am very happy to help the young man out.

That is about it for news from me. 

Toodles Linda

                                                                                                             

 Well lets start this post with some positive things. I'm in a mood and this could disintegrate into a pity party quite quickly if I do not take care and watch myself. Its a slippery slope. 

 Lets see how this goes shall we??? 

For the very first time in months, I went to the store and picked up my own groceries. Not a big accomplishment in most peoples world but its a big deal in mine.

Not only did I go once but I went again the second day to a different store to get the things I could not get from the first store. Of course McDonald's breakfast was had the first trip but I did not repeat the performance on the second day. Too much of a good thing.  I cannot state how good this makes me feel. I can do this again, on my own, and I do not have to put upon my friends. A small bit of independence snatched back.

I did some knitting for a former co-worker, She had mitts that were her kids and wanted them fixed so her grandchildren  could use them. They look like little puppets and needed new mouths.

Everybody had holes and some had nearly no mouth at all. So I knit new inserts and sewed them up. They are good to go once again .

I always feel like I am channeling my Mom's mother when I do things like this. Little Grandma was always making do and mending. She was excellent at it, far better than I am but I like to think what little talent I have in this area came from her, through my mom.

I think my cellulitis is gone but I am on guard for any more flare ups. I just wish it would go away and stay gone. (ok here is the slippery slope). I am tired. I am tired of being sick every time I turn around. I am tired of trying to do the normal everyday things and everything hurts ALL THE TIME. I'm tired of taking handfuls of costly medicines that make me fatigued. I have no will to do the fun things I love to do because I am so freaking tired all the time. What little tiny ground I gained, before I go sick this last month is lost because I got sick again and walking was so painful. Back to square one I go with the physical fitness. Its so disheartening.

I will get through this, I'm not ready to throw the towel in just yet, its just at this moment I am frustrated. For someone who is so tired, my sleep pattern is all out of whack. I need to get that back on track.  Lack of sleep makes me cranky and I over react to the little things in life. Dropping something on the floor becomes a personal attack instead of an inconsequential incident that it is 

This too shall pass. My inner child is on the floor at the moment having a complete tantrum over how "IT'S NOT FAIR". She will wear out in time and things will get back on some sort of track. That is my story and I am sticking too it. 

Toodles, Linda

Feels Like Spring is Never Gonna Come

 Honestly, last weekend we had rain, lightening, thunder, sleet, snow the whole shebang! It was not fun. I, and I know I am not alone in this, am more than fed up with the crap weather. I mean I could deal with a long cold spring but do we have to have the snow and sleet?? I am yearning for green things, buds on trees and tulips poking up  from their beds to meet the sun. One small gift this morning was as I looked out the kitchen window, a chubby, cheeky robin was sitting in my backyard. hopping about. Inspite of the fact that he looked a bit like he was regretting his choices, for me, he was bringing with him the promise that maybe, just maybe spring will come eventually.

Lets move on from the predictable, depressing conversation about the weather. I hosted book club this week. It was so nice to have the ladies here and to get together once again. It feels like its been forever. We didn't spend much time on the book but we did catch up on all of our news.

Two members were not with us but those that were seemed to have a good time. They stayed until nearly 10 which is a good sign of an enjoyable night.

I have had a round of cellulitis in my feet this last week or so. I am just done with this one thing after another. I am sick of being sick. I need a break. I need to have some time where I feel like me, where I feel like I want to do something other than sleep. So I am back on antibiotics

They have made a big improvement in how I feel but I am on my last day and the cellulitis is not totally gone. I will call and get some more because I want this gone.

I will say that yesterday and today have been the first days in a long time that I have felt much better. I actually covered cushions for a friend yesterday. I have not felt like doing that sort of thing for a long time. I have been knitting but its because I force myself to. 

I love this material and it matches nicely with my new couch. I am hoping I can make a cushion cover for my recliner with some of the scraps. 

Well I should go and see if I can find something for lunch and then see if I can interest myself in doing some crafting. My cleaning lady just left so my place looks lovely and I won't want to do anything to mess it up but I am toying with the idea of starting to quilt one of my flimsys. Who know what will happen.

Toodles Linda

Stop Shaking the Snowglobe!!

 We got our winter storm although not as bad as they had predicted but bad enough. I was so grateful that I was able to stay home and not have to go out in it. I even managed, thanks to Superstore and the Banker to get my grocery order a day ahead of when I had ordered it. This way if the power did go out I could freeze to death with snacks.

We had no snow before these shenanigans happened. I do admit that we did not get hit as hard as some parts of the country but it was still disheartening none the less. We are due to have more of the lovely white stuff this week. They said a long cold spring and I think this time they were right. 

I finally, finally, finally got into the green spare room today and got working on getting it organized. It became a dumping ground when Busy and the Carpenter were here working on the house. Its going to remain a bit of a catch all since storage is so limited in my house. It can be a catch all without being a total mess. I have taken so very long to get at it but today was the day and I got a good deal of it done. It still needs work but its looking a lot better than it was. As always it did not take as long as I thought it would. That always happens and I always insist on making a mountain out of a mole hill. Gotta work on that.

Here is the before

And here is the after:

At last all the pumpkins have been tucked away before its fall again and time to get them out once more. 

So the plan is that tomorrow night I am going to host book club. It will be the first time in a very long time that I have had them all here. Its nice to be able to invite them without having a panic about getting the house fit for prime time. I have a few jobs to do but nothing like I would have in the past. I am just hoping that the weather does not put a kink in the plans.

Not much else to tell. I think I will go and knit for a bit and then go do some dishes and dust. 

Toodles Linda

Winter is Coming

 Blah and Curses!!  We are sitting here under the impending gloom of the worst blizzard in decades. Mountains of snow, blowing winds, no travel, stock up on food, power may go out, get your prescriptions sort of  blizzard. Oh joy! Our snow is almost gone and its getting easy to get around at last. This is disheartening to say the least, although it won't last forever. 

I finally stopped talking about it and actually went yesterday and invested in a new phone. It is huge compared to my old one. I am now on the learning curve getting used to all the new ways of doing things. We are making friends inspite of the fact that the phone does weird and wonderful things almost by itself. In time it will all come clear. I just wish I was smarter at this sort of thing but I am challenged in this area.

Some big things have been happening around here, I have started to make some solo trips for the first time in months. I can get the walker down the ramp at the back and into the car so I am good to go on my own once again. My first trip was to take myself to the podiatrist and then to McDonald's for breakfast as a reward/treat for the trip out. I had planned to get my grocery order tomorrow but I am thinking the blizzard will put pay to that idea.

I have also discovered that I can go out the front door, lift the walker down by myself and when I get home I can lift it back up the stairs myself. I take this as a great victory considering when I got the thing I could not lift it at all. I am slowly getting some of "me" back.

I made Amish Cinnamon bread or Amish Friendship bread last week. I actually baked something!! Who's a wild woman?? 

Oh yes its all non stop crazy fun around this house. Oh to be fair I am having a reasonably good time. Once I totally adjust to my new meds things should be back to being very much to my liking.

My cleaning lady was here to day so I have a nice clean house and fresh sheets to sleep in tonight.. She is a real treat and takes a load off of me as I just struggle to do a lot of what she does anymore. I wish I could still do it but I can't so I am adjusting to the new normal that is my life.

Yesterday the Banker and I went out and ran some errands, got my phone and then hit a lovey restaurant for a bit of a fancy lunch and cheesecake dessert. My treat as a thank you to her for all that she has been doing for me. A small thank you but a thank you none the less. I so enjoyed the outing. It felt normal to be going out in the world and dong normal things.

I got treats delivered to me this morning and it was delicious. A flaky lemon poppy seed pastry and delicious hot coffee. I do have the best friends!

Toodles Linda

Still trying

This is the fall quilt I have signed up to do on Facebook. I have not started it yet but I have hopes that I will get at it soon. Jackie White Quilts is the group that I have been making quilts with. 

I am not sure what is up with me, I'm still not quite on track. I keep telling myself that it took a long time to get this way so it stands to reason that it will take time to get back on the right road. My house is staying tidy. I am managing to keep it from sliding back into the mess that it was. I am not sleeping as much as I was the last little while but I am not super motivated to do much else but sit in my chair. I have been knitting but its something I am making myself do, which was never the case before. I have high hopes that this too shall pass. I am really thinking I need to force myself to get a quilt out and ready to quilt. That may be the spark I need to get me going. My biggest fault is I want it all to be fixed yesterday. I am not giving up hope nor am I going to stop trying I just am wishing the fix was faster. Life as a lump is not what I hoped my retirement to be.

Ok enough about that. I have had some good things happen this week. My car started, after months of just sitting, it started like I had been using it all winter. I was so grateful. I was sure I was going to have to replace the battery. Next was the ramp is two inched wider than my walker which means I, at least right this moment don't need to find the funds to have it widened. I can now start to get my own groceries, get myself to my appointments and maybe even go to a store or two on my own and stop being such a burden on my friends.

I went out for lunch yesterday. I went with Mommy Bug and her son Little Mr Bug. What a polite, well behaved young man. He was not too shy to talk to us, he was well behaved through lunch while we had a visit. That is not easy for kids to do but he behaved admirably. He also checked with his mom before he wanted to do anything but sit. I was very impressed. I was also appreciative of the fact that Mommy Bug was willing to deal with me and my walker.

I'm the one who seems to have to do the most adjusting to having a walker. My friends seem to feel its no big deal. I find it much easier to walk with it that is for sure but when you have spent your life trying to not take up a lot of space, not be in the way, not draw attention it has now thrown me into the space and I am not comfortable with it.

My next big hurdle (?) is to get out to the car, get the walker into the car myself and go somewhere. I had toyed with the idea of going and getting breakfast this morning but could not seem to get myself out the door. I will though, I have to get this figured out because I have a foot appointment on Monday I hope to get myself to. Maybe tomorrow.

Toodles Linda

This And That

 As always I really do not have a lot to share. I did discover what sort of person uses Skip the Dishes to order from McDonald's. Hmmmm that would be me. Don't judge, I really really really wanted breakfast from McDonald's. Its one of my many guilty pleasures and I have not been able to indulge very often since I and my car are temporarily grounded. So I cracked and gave it a try. Its not something I would do often as its more expensive and God bless them, McDonald's still got the order wrong. Oh well it was lovely to have my breakfast once again. At least the stuff I actually got. Once I get the car going again I will be able to get it for myself.

I finally found the upstairs mop. I looked and looked for it, the Banker looked for it and neither of us could find it. That was until the other day when I glanced in the spare room and there it was, hiding in plain sight. I have no idea how the two of us missed it and I am amazed at how often this sort of thing happens. So annoying. Before you ask I did look in that room as did the Banker. I'm blaming the fairies.

I don't even need it anymore because I have bought a mop and pail. I do have another microfiber mop and this one no longer pumps the liquid out on the floor. That feature is broken. Broke very shortly after I bought the thing. 

So I am taking some new medication, it takes a long time to kick in and for your system to adjust to it. I am blaming it for making me so sleepy at the moment. I am sleeping more than I ever have since maybe I was a teenager. I am hoping this is just a symptom. Two hour naps and not getting out of be until noon is not a very productive life to live.

Well that's all folks, short and sweet.

Toodles Linda