January 22, 2009

I still haven't gotten back on my usual nocturnal schedule. Being at my mother's for a week and then getting sick right after I got home just threw me off. Because of that, I was up at 10:00 this morning and went out to run errands. Since I was in Severna Park anyway, I stopped by Partners In Care to say hello to Linda and drop off some books to the Boutique. They were taking up room and I knew I wouldn't read them a second time.

From the PIC office I went straight to Barnes & Noble for the afternoon stitching group. I was the only stitcher, with everyone else knitting, but I enjoyed the camaraderie. It was nice to sit and stitch with others around who enjoy similar pasttimes. Slowly everyone left except me and one other lady, another Linda. She was having some trouble with her knitting project and went to find a reference book to help her. I worked on "Love, Laugh, Survive & Thrive" from The Cat's Whiskers Design Studio and Dinky Dyes. This is the second time I've stitched it and it is coming right along. I was able to almost complete the entire front panel by 4:20pm.


That's when I looked at my phone and saw how late it was! I was planning on leaving at 4pm because I needed to get home to let Kasey out. Linda also had things she needed to do an didn't realize how late it had gotten. The time just seemed to fly by. Lucky for me, Uncle Wes was already home and he'd taken Kasey for a walk. I would have felt bad that she'd been in so long because she didn't have to go out before I left the house this morning.

This evening I continued to work on LLS&T, completing the front panel and doing the ribbon and heart on the back.

September 30, 2008

I volunteered for Partners in Care today. I've driven Miss E to an appointment before so I knew exactly where I had to go. Unfortunately when we got to the doctor's office they told her she didn't have an appointment. She asked me if I would mind taking her to the supermarket instead and I agreed. Realistically, going there would take less time than waiting for a doctor so we headed to Safeway. Miss E just picked up some produce so we weren't there long.

I don't know how I managed it, but I walked out of the store and got back to my truck without falling over. I honestly felt like I was going to pass out. I dropped Miss E off at her house, got home safely myself, and sat in my recliner for the rest of the night, except to make dinner.

I'm totally frustrated with the problems in my right arm. I'm unable to hold anything in my right hand. On top of that, it seems the reduced bloodflow in my fingertips has caused all four of them to crack. I know it sounds ridiculous because it's just tiny splits in the skin, but I'm not even able to type without piercing pain in my fingers. I think it's because of the reduced bloodflow because the splits are in the lines of my fingerprints, they appeared by themselves, and if it were my ezcema both hands would be affected.

I started reading Oregon! by Dana Fuller Ross because there's nothing else I can do right now. This is the fourth book in the Wagons West series. I'll probably put the next book in the series on hold at the library so I have something to read once I'm done with this one.

April 4, 2008

Today started at midnight...sorta. I didn't go to bed until 3:30am, but I was on the phone with Debi and helped her daughter, Rachel, with some math homework. I only got a couple hours' sleep because I had to be at dialysis at 6:00 this morning. UGH! I think by now, most of you know that I am not a morning person! Suprisingly, I was wide awake and got up, fixed my drink and snack, and got to the clinic just before 6a.m.

Somehow, my Patriotic Heart didn't make it into my DMC mini binder but I had a blank bread cover to stitch on. I started working on the Uncle Sam design in my bread cover leaflet. I was planning on stitching it anyway, so I just got an earlier than expected start on it. My stitching time was cut short, however, when severe chills hit me. My teeth were chattering, I was shivering from head to toe, and I had all of my wraps and my sweatshirt enveloping me in an effort to warm up. Finally, the charge nurse had my technican cover me with a plastic apron to hopefully keep my body heat in. One layer wasn't enough and another tech brought over two more plastic gowns. These even had sleeves, but I still couldn't get warm! My temperature started at 96.9 and got up to 98.9, but I didn't get warm until my treatment was over and I was in my truck with the heat on high.

I got home around 9:30a.m. and Laura wasn't due to pick me up until between 10:30 and 11:00a.m. I stopped at Wawa on my way home to get a small Chai Tea Latte and a four-inch sub to get something in my stomach. At home, I turned up the thermostat to 72 degrees, ate my sub, and started cleaning the livingroom. I got it vacuumed but hurt my back in the process. Every time I vacuum, no matter how careful I am, my back starts hurting really bad. It's very frustrating!

Laura got here at about 11:00am and we loaded my bags into the back of her truck. We were on the road by 11:15, so we were only about 15 minutes behind schedule. We stopped in Waldorf so I could get my Vitamin B6 pills and had lunch at Horne's which is at the corner of Rts 301 and 17. We browsed around the store and looked at some of the Jibbits, funny signs, and stuffed animals before we sat down to order lunch and eat.

We were back on the road shortly and headed down Rt 17 to Newport News! I had planned on stitching the whole way, but Laura and I chatted and I watched the passing landscape because I'd never been there before. When I went to Williamsburg for vacation two summers ago, we used the interstates, but I have to say that the way Laura took was much more scenic.

We got to Sue's house around 3:30p.m. Sue had tubs and tubs of stash she wanted Laura and I to go through. When her sister-in-law passed away, Sue inherited her stash as well. I brought along some gifts for both Sue and Laura and presented them to each of them. For Laura, I had several packages of Aida and a full set of DMC's original Color Variations floss. I gave Sue the Stitch pillow which was my very first attempt at finishing one of my projects and a book of samplers I picked up at the Book Outlet in Queenstown, MD. I had a rubberized-grip highlighter for each of them and a bag of stash for them to look through as well.

We spent the evening going through the boxes and had a wonderful pot roast Sue prepared in the crock pot for us. Her sunroom was recently completed and she just got the furniture this week, so we sat out there to enjoy the evening air. You will not believe the amout of stash she gave us! She even orderd a bunch of the Just Nan charts I had on my wish list and gave them to me as she was going through some of her binders full of charts! Sue had warned me to bring an extra bag because she had alot of stash she wanted us to get out of her house. I took two and that wasn't enough! I had a rolling tote full of charts and kits, my plaid beach tote full of fabric, and another box that held more charts, kits, and pillow forms! I'm positive I've now reached S.A.B.L.E.! It was a nice, relaxing, quiet evening spent chatting, going through boxes, and watching tv.

Sue and Laura went to sleep around 1am, but I just couldn't. I stayed up until 4:00a.m. playing games on Sue's computer. "Where are the pictures?" you ask. Here you go:

Sue and Laura also helped me whittle down my "I want to stitch ASAP" pile of charts to twenty-five projects for my 2009 Stitching List. They were ruthless! I whimpered a couple of times when they pointed to a chart to go into the "Waiting to be stitched" pile along with all the other charts.

So the 2009 List looks like this:

The Sweetheart Tree

God Bless America Teddy

Americana Hearts

Just Nan

Common Ground

Black Magic

Queen of the Needle

Amethyst Snowflake

Little House Needleworks

Brave Hearts

Stars & Stripes

America

Home of a Needleworker (too!)

Elizabeth's Designs

Midnight Clear

Nature's Alphabet

Shepherd's Bush

Flag-Monthly Musing

February-A Year in Stitches

Dinky-Dyes Designs

Southern Stars

Hinzeit

Mini Block: Freedom

Linen Flowers

Golden Gift

Heirloom Embroideries

Medley

Bent Creek

Stars Zipper Kit-Stitched 10 April as an emergency gift

Blue Ribbon Designs

Stitches, Stars and Stripes

Jeannette Douglas Designs

Take Time to Stitch too

Heart in Hand

Stars Sampler

Wee Stitch

Flags

Liberty

Dog Sampler

There are still more I want to stitch, of course, but I plan on stitching smaller projects every couple weeks to avoid getting burned out on my BAP's. The strategy is to stitch simple, quick finishes for one week to give myself a break on whatever BAP I'm currently working on. Hopefully this will prevent the burnout I've been geting while working on Deftly Wrought and will also allow me to finish even more than what's on the list. Some of the projects planned for next year are even bigger than Deftly Wrought!

March 29-31

Okay, so the weekend was a bust as far as stitching goes, but I did finally get most of my stash organized and I pulled out the things that I know I'll never stitch. Since I'm spending next weekend with two stitchers, I'm taking those items with me so they can take a look at them and take what they want.

To my shock and amazement, Uncle Wes told me when I woke up Saturday morning that he's going to finally change the kitchen faucet since it's leaking so bad nothing's coming out of the spout. I honestly thought he'd wait a while. Considering the number of dishes waiting to be washed, I wasn't looking forward to that. The new faucet is in and it works great. The best part is that I don't have water shooting out the back and running all over the counter anymore!

I spent my day periodically picking up in the livingroom and helping Wessy, as well as watching some of the movies on my DVR. My main focus, however, was my blog. I caught it up to Friday and finally completed "My Life in Blinkies" which was alot of fun. I've gathered some from others' sites as well as some free Blinkies sites. Basically, they describe an aspect of me or something I strongly believe in. There are things I like, and the last section is for laughs but still pertain to me. See how organized I am? There's a method to my madness! MUHHAHAHAHAHAH!

I spent most of Sunday organizing my stash and pulling out things I know I'll never stitch. I also continued cleaning up the livingroom and getting rid of all the things piled up around my chair. Now I have a tray on my end table for my meds, my camera (because I use it to take my "Daily Progress" photos), my salt flakes (for when I'm dehydrated), and my cell phone and bluetooth headset. My end table has been cleaned off to also hold my Golden Retriever page-a-day calendar and my two coasters (Alot of times I have my 1/2 gallon for iced tea and a mug of hot tea or chocolate in here). My "Laptop Table" finally has just that on it, but my third table-yes, I have three!-is a little junked up still. I put a basket on the floor by my chair to hold my stitching bag and a couple other things.

I was talking to Debi Murray tonight on Messenger and we were discussing my stitching slump. I didn't do any stitching at home all weekend, nor have I stitched at home for a quite a while now. I really want Deftly Wrought finished, but I just don't want to stitch on it. I've finally come to the conclusion that I need to put it aside rather than continue to mentally beat myself up about not stitching it. Instead, I'm going to take a little break and completely switch stitching directions to work on one of the two Navy Emblems I need to do for Uncle Wes this year. He picked an off-white Aida that I bought at the Upscale Retail Boutique run by Partners in Care. The emblem is approximately 7 2/3 x 7 2/3" on 18ct. I figured that, since I have to do two of them, I'll do one now and one later in the year because I know I don't want to have to do two in a row! Right before I went to bed, I pulled the floss and put it in an empty Stitch Bow page and stuck the page and the chart pack with fabric in my stitching bag to take with me to dialysis tomorrow. I also pulled out two UFO's. One just needs backstitching and the other is A Bird For All Seasons by Dimensions that I'm re-starting. I'm hoping to work on them on Tuesdays because it's the ILCS UFO Day SAL.

Today (Monday), I did stitch at dialysis. I almost finished the eagle's head on the Navy Emblem. Unfortunately, I had to stop stitching because I got a really bad headache. It felt like it was going to escalate into a migraine, so I took two Aleve right away.

We only have one bathroom at home, so I called Uncle Wes to explain the situation and ask him to take a shower before I got there because I was either going straight to bed or soaking in the bathtub. I know it's unconventional, but alot of times I find relief from pain by soaking in a very hot tub of water. Add a lightly-scented votive candle and some soft iPod music and I'm asleep and pain-free! It may only last a while, but anyone who has chronic or recurring pain will tell you any time is better than no time!

When I got home at quarter after six, I put my iPod on my iHome radio, turned on a Flute Podcast softly, and went straight to bed. I didn't wake up til 9pm and the headache was gone!

I saw the Golden Retriever by Pegasus Originals chart pack in my recliner when I woke up and considered pulling the floss for it. I was going to put it in a Stitch Bow page so I could work on it as well, but remembered the floss that needed to be put in my storage binders.

I got all my floss except for duplicates put away, but my three storage binders were stretched to maxium capacity. They're designed to hold eight full pages each and mine had ten to twelve pages. I looked up and noticed the four 3-ring binders sitting on the floor beside my stash tote and thought "Why pay $7.99 for a Stitch Bow binder when you have some right here?" So I grabbed the three white ones and only left eight pages in each of the Stitch Bow binders. I even made separate pages for the variegated and metallic flosses now that I have extra room. There are five binders of floss and there's room to grow! The fifth binder only has one and a half pages of variegated floss and a half a page of metallic. I looked up and saw it was 11:57pm and wanted to say I stitched at home but I had to end my floss and it was midnight before I got the needle threaded. GRR! Needless to say...no stitching at home...again (WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!). At least I can say I did stitch today, though!

January 10, 2008

Right after I finished posting yesterday's update, I got back to work on Deftly Wrought. I stitched until about 3am and went to bed around 4am.

I had to volunteer this morning, as I'd agreed to drive another member of Partners In Care to a doctor's appointment. When I was asked, I was feeling much better. If I'd known how bad I was going to be feeling today, I never would have said yes. But I didn't feel that I could cancel at the last minute, so I got up and picked up Miss Milly at 10:15 to drive her to her appointment. The one good thing, though, was that I finished the second of the four mini-samplers across the top, so now I can start on that third one!

I got home at 11am and went right back to bed. I didn't wake up until after 6pm. Uncle Wes said that Kasey went for their usual walk with him, but when he let her off the leash she ran straight back to the house, instead of sniffing around the deer trail in our field like she usually does. Then I found out that the neighbor knocked on the door sometime while I was asleep. Apparently Kasey thought I was too sick to bother barking to let me know. The only way I found out was because of the note Uncle Wes found on the door.

I'm still dehydrating every night and have no idea why. I've been taking my meds to try to slow down the fluid loss, but nothing seems to be working. During both dialysis treatments this week I've been given almost 1,000mL of fluids, yet when I get back for the next treatment, I've lost over 2kg (2,000mL) of weight. I'm now over six pounds less than what my weight should be.

I have to get up early in the morning to see the cardiologist to follow up with what they found when I wore the 24-hour heart monitor a couple of weeks ago. I don't suspect anything, as I had to wear one when I got admitted to the hospital a month ago. But I will find out for sure tomorrow. I'm also hoping to feel well enough to stitch, because I absolutely didn't after I woke up this evening.