June 13-16

I still can't stitch, so I've continued reading and watching movies. I'm in the middle of 16 Lighthouse Road by Debbie Macomber. PS I Love You arrived from Netflix today, so I'm going to take that to Mom's with me and watch it up there.

There was some trouble getting good bloodflow at dialysis Friday but Mai Lou was able to get it working correctly. I was a little worried; then again, I've been paranoid about the graft failing ever since I had to go back in for the second surgery last week. I've never heard of anyone who had to have back-to-back de-clotting surgeries like I just had! That's not a distinction I want to have, especially after having already set the record for the hospital stay following a parathyroidectomy. Someone needs to stay longer than 24 days...and fast!

Anyway, I left for Mom's following dialysis, but the trip seemed to take alot longer than usual. I stopped at the Wawa on Rt. 50 to get Lemonade Tea and a sub for the drive. The Bay Bridge traffic wasn't bad at all; I got right through the tolls. I made a pit stop at the rest stop on Rt 301 N and called Mom from the parking lot to tell her I'd be about an hour. The drive took another hour and a half. I think it was because there was a truck on Rt 213 that wouldn't go over 50mph and was doing 45mph most of the time. If I could have passed him, I would have, but there was always someone coming the other way. Therefore, I didn't arrive at Mom and Dad's til almost 10pm. I was totally frustrated by that point.

Mom and I played a few hands of Skip Bo and Ian and Sara got home around 1am. Mom went to bed and Sara and I played a couple more rounds of Skip Bo. Ian was in a bad temper because he was supposed to pick up Breanna for the weekend since it was Father's Day, but Aime went to West Virginia and took Bre with her. It was not to be brought up while I was there, because everyone was upset about it. I really hope he gets his visitation in writing so she can't pull this crap anymore. Bre's birthday was May 23 and we haven't seen her since Ian had her the weekend of April 19! Okay, done airing family dirty laundry. Sorry.

I watched PS I Love You on my laptop Saturday afternoon. I went through four Kleenex watching it, too! I've never laughed so much at a movie that made me cry! It's one of the best romantic comedies I've ever seen, and that's saying alot! This movie is definitely going on my short list of favorites! And I'd watch it two more times before the weekend was over!

I went up to work in the Craft Room Saturday night and got alot done! It was 5:00am before I cleaned up and went to bed. First, I finished Dad's no-sew cube. I wanted a cube to match the one I made for Mom at Mother's Day, so Heart in Hand's Pocket Samper: Dad was the stitched piece I used. I used a plain brown fabric for the sides and a blue print for the back to tie in to all the colors of the stitching. I'm still waiting for Mom to send me pictures, because the batteries in my camera died.
I also made two covers to put around the edges of my Q-Snaps. Mom had fusable tape, so I used that instead of running long lines of stitching down the fabric. I created two tubes in the fabric by folding the edges over and fusing them in the center. This left a tunnel through which I could run the elastic. I pinned the elastic to each end of the fabric and then sewed it into a circle. Voila! Two Q-Snap covers to protect my fabric edges from getting dirty!

I watched The Bucket List while I was working in the Craft Room and I must admit it was a disappointment. All the one-liners that were winged in the previews aren't really funny when you see them in context. It was about two dying men doing all the things they always wanted to do, but it just wasn't the comedy the movie trailers depicted it to be. I also watched PS I Love you for the second time.

I had no idea of the passage of time, so I was shocked to see that it was 5am when I finished. Needless to say, I went to bed. Mom was already upset with me for sleeping until 3pm Saturday, so I didn't want to do a repeat performance on Sunday!

Yes, it's Father's Day weekend and everyone (except Bre) is coming to visit Sunday afternoon. Sarah, Anna, and Caleb will be coming for the day. Ben is coming up for as long as he can. Ian and Sara will be here for dinner because they're going to Sara's dad's for the afternoon.

I put Dad's cube on the kitchen table along with the two Sudoku books I bought for him so they'd be there when he woke up. He thanked me for them when I got up (at 11am). Ben was already there, which totally suprised me, and Ian and Sara were awake, too. Sarah told Mom and Dad she wouldn't be coming over until the kids had taken their naps, so they were expected to arrive around 3pm. It ended up being more like 2pm and Sarah told us that Anna didn't sleep, but "she rested" on the couch for two hours.

I took Anna up to my room and we finished the Christmas Candles into an ornament for her to take home. This is the piece she picked out the last time I was at Mom's. This time, I have everything I need to finish it for her, including purple fabric for the back. She helped me by holding the glue and putting the cap on each time I was finished with it. She also folded over one of the sides of the stitched piece. The whole time she kept saying "Home!" meaning she was taking it home with her.

While I had her upstairs, I gave her all the Princess and Shrek things I found at the Dollar Store for her. There was an Ariel kaleidescope, a Shrek holographic poster, a magic towel with Ariel on it, Tinkerbell stamps, Princess stamps, an Ariel book for her to take into the bath tub, two Disney books with cardboard pages, and a Princess activity kit for her to do at home with Mommy. Anna loves Shreck and her eyes lit up when I showed her how the image changed. She went right downstairs to show off all her new toys and got Ben to read all the books to her (after Sarah and I read them to her). I was able to find Winnie the Pooh magic towel, bathtime book, and activity kit for Caleb, too.

After playing downstairs instead of in the playroom upstairs like Mom and Dad asked Sarah to take them to, she finally went the the neighbor's house with them to let them play with Ben (another Ben, not my brother) and Joseph. Deb had them out in the front yard so Anna played in the pool. Sarah took Caleb out of the water shortly after I went over, so he and Joseph, who is about 10 months old, played on a blanket with some toys.

Anna was so cute. She heard us talking about Deb's dog, Frosty, needing water and she carried a bucket from the pool to the sidewalk for Frosty to drink. Now, granted, most of the water sloshed out along the way, but it's the thought that counts! She even re-filled it twice because she didn't think there was enough water in it.

Sarah and I got on the see saw until Anna wanted to get up. Well, we let her up twice but told her that was it. She tried to climb up a third time and Sarah tried to stop her. She ended up biting Sarah on the stomach, through her shirt, and broke the skin a tiny bit. So that was the end of the see saw and Anna's playing for a while. After she calmed down from the crying jag, she went back to playing in the pool with Ben. I went back home to get my steak ready for the grill and to see if I could help with any of the other preparations and left Sarah and the little ones at Deb's.

Sarah brought the kids back in time to have an appetizer I fixed. I'd bought some mini bread bowls filled with spinach and artichoke dip. I'd have liked them more if there were holes bigger than a melon baller in the bread, but unfortunately there wasn't alot of spinach and artichoke dip, so it just tasted like bread for the most part. Anna ate two bread bowls, but gave the dip to Mom. Caleb suprisingly liked the dip, and he enjoyed the bread as well.

We sat down to dinner late because Ian and Sara didn't get back home until after 6pm. I had the tenderloins wrapped in bacon that I picked up from Acme and everyone else had macaroni salad and hamburgers. I bought a small salad from the salad bar because I don't care for store-bought cold salads. Anna was an absolute pill at dinner. You could tell she didn't get a nap. I ended up with ketchup on my pants because she knocked her fork off the table. She started sharing my salad with me, but then decided she didn't want to eat anything at all.

Her new trick is to "bonk" you with her fist and then say "Ha Ha!" which she did several dozen times in a row to Dad while he was eating. Keeping her in her chair and focused on the food on her plate was impossible. She usually eats alot nicer for me, but with everyone laughing at her antics, there was no way she was going to sit and eat. Luckily Sarah took them home right after she cleaned up their places at the table.

The rest of the evening was spent with Sara and Dad out on the deck chatting. Ian went downstairs to play his Playstation and rest while Mom blasted her music in the bedroom and relaxed in the jacuzzi tub. Ben had to head back home to Glen Burnie at the same time as Sarah and the kids.

Around midnight, I went upstairs to try to stitch, but it didn't work laying in bed. Instead, I watched PS I Love you for the third time. At least by now, I don't need as many Kleenex! I adore this story!

Dad helped me pack up my truck and I left around 11:15am Monday to go home. I arrived at the house by 1pm, so I had over an hour until I needed to leave for dialysis.

In the mail, I found the Spring 2008 Limited Edition pack from Dinky Dyes in the mail. Jo sent me two LE cotton skeins: Princess Rose and Spring Garden; two LE silk skeins: Lavender Roses and Poppy's Garden; one Araluen silk skein, and a piece of hand-dyed opalescent evenweave. Everything was packaged in a shimmering pink guaze draw-string bag. Also included was a chart for a biscornu that uses the two LE silk colors. It's a very delicate floral design; very pretty!