Lots of Pictures

I finally got off my duff last night and uploaded pics of Griffin Kitten. I think it is coming along wonderfully.

I also uploaded pics of all the fobs too. They are all happily sitting at Norwood's waiting to be bought and safe away from the cat.

I didn't do much else last night. I sat and read a book and relaxed. It was a nice quite evening. I've kinda missed having those.

The ordeal is finally drawing to an end

I made it through all 4 doctor visits this week. I'm so glad that they are over.
I'm now waiting on the phone calls to tell me that I am healthy and fine. I've convinced myself that I have to be healthy and fine since I feel better now than I have in almost 5 years and now I'm just waiting on the doctors to confirm it.

The ct scan prep was a bit of an ordeal and I really wish doctors would take the words "I'm gonna be sick" a little more seriously but the scan is over and I'm feeling better today.

Saturday was pretty much shot by the scan. I spent 9:30 to 2pm drinking the garbage and then getting the scan as we found new and interesting ways into the hospital since the entrance was blocked by what looked like an mri machine that had gotten stuck as the people were trying to bring it into the hospital. Thankfully they had it moved by the time we were done with my scan. We went to lunch at TGIF afterward and the food helped settle my tummy quite a bit. Then off to my parents for a quick visit and to let DH show Dad how to attach documents to email. Then home for some rest. I took a nap then we watched a couple of movies.

Sunday, my tummy was still a little off so I spent most of the day in the recliner watching movies and stitching while Dh was a darling and did the laundry. I did manage to cook a roast for supper though so I felt like I accomplished something. I now have a little over 30 hours into Griffin Kitten and I'm almost finished with the 4 major (more than 1 skien used) colors. I did however get the unfortunate news that Susan (owner of Norwoods) is closed for the next week due to the death of her mother. I'm very sorry for her loss and for Erin's loss of her furbaby. I guess you really do get sentimental later in life because I have found myself crying for both losses even though I only met Susan's mother once and I never met Erin's furbaby.

Hugs for everyone and I hope that everyone is safe and loved always.

friday fizzle

I'm so glad that it's Friday. My high spirits from Monday have slowly fizzled out. I'm tired. I'm cranky. I'm not pleasant to be around today.

I spent all day yesterday on the computer taking a training course on long term care so that I could take a test and get 10 continueing education credits so that I can keep up my insurance license when it renews in August. I have to take 15 credits every year so I'll need to take at least one more course yet which stinks. I had to read over 300 screens of junk for this 10 hour course and take a 50 question test which I thankfully scored a 86 on the first time through so I don't have to do it again.

I'm steadily working along on Griffin Kitten. I'm up to 21 hours on it already and I'm about 1/4 of the way done, I think. It's a little hard to tell since I do one color at a time till it's done but I've finished 2 of the 4 colors that required more than 1 skien of floss so it's looking good.

I had my last phyisical therapy session this morning. I still don't have normal feeling but he assured me that it would eventually returned but it may take a few more months and that I should keep doing my home excersices.

I get to spend tomorrow drinking barium so that I can get my ct scan at 1:30. I'll spend the rest of the afternoon with an upset tummy but I can deal with that as long as I don't need any more of these things.

I have to remember to buy tickets to GARF next time I get paid on the 31st. We're gonna go ahead and get teh 4 pack of tickets so that we can go twice. I'm very excited about going after reading Valerie's blog about rehearsals.

I need to take pics of the fobs that I made after the request for pink fobs from Prinn and Maria. I have two choices for each of them and need to post pics on the GSFL bboard so they can decide which ones they want.

I did sign up for a hardanger class at Norwood's niche on april 16th. I'm a little excited about the course since it's only $35 and lasts from 10:30am to 3pm. I should have the model done that I'm working on for her by then too so I'll have lots of credit to spend on supplies if I find something that I just can't live without.

I think that covers everything but I'm also a little scatterbrained today along with being sleepy and cranky so I may have missed some.

Another one bites the dust

Had another doc appointment this morning. This one was with the obgyn though. We discussed all the lovely (3) options that I now have for birth control. I get to choose between a diaphram, a mini pill (that she doesn't really recommend but is going to check into) and a progesterone-iud (which she strongly recommends).

It's amazing to me how limited my choices were. She brought out this chart that had like 20 choices on it that were still valid after my surgery but we were knocked down to three after I stated that I wanted something to stop conception and not something that would start implantation because to me, once conception occurs, I have a baby and I want that baby whether it was planned for or not. This surprised her. She asked if I was an avid pro-life supporter. I told her that didn't really matter but I do believe in choice and my choice is to have my child no matter what because I know that I could not abort my own child whether I realized it was there yet or not. I know this is a touchy subject for a lot of people so I generally do not get into these discussions. The doc was very nice and said that she admired my decision and was glad to take the time to know what I wanted. She was an extremely nice person and after hearing what I wanted showed me the limited options and explained each one in detail which was wonderful. She gave me info on all of them to take home and share with DH and told me to make an appointment after I had my ct scan results back and we had made a choice as to which one we wanted.

I'm now finished with 2 appointments this week and have two more to go. Who new that getting a 6 month all clear would cause me to see so many doctors? I have to say that this is the only time I miss Kaiser. At least with them all the docs were in the same building so they would just all come to me to consult so I wouldn't have to make 4 different appointments like this.

Not much else going on around here. Sorry if this was tmi for you guys.

sleepy now

I stayed up too late last night. I guess I'm too excited about actually getting paid for my stitching.

I also woke up this morning with a bit of a head cold. This has made for a very sleepy day. I'm starting to wonder if the boss would notice if I nodded off at my desk.

I think I'll go to bed as soon as I get home tonight and forget about stitching tonight. Dh can wake me up for supper and I'll do dishes and then back to bed. It always amazes me how much sleep my body seems to need when I'm not feeling well.

On an aggravating note, I've had 2 different people today ask me when my baby was due. This frustrates me so much. I truly do not believe that I look that large. Granted, I weighed in at 209 yesterday but I'm also 5'11" so the weight goes okay. I'm back down into a size 16 that I wore in college and no one asked me back then when the baby was due! I actually understood why people asked me this when I first had the surgery because I had a habit of rubbing my incision cause it hurt and rubbing it helped but I stopped doing that when it stopped hurting so I have no idea why I'm getting that question now. I thought maybe it's cause I look a little green around the gills today due to the head cold and everyone seems to think that I should have kids on the way by now since I am after all *gasp* almost 30! After telling the first man that I wasn't pregnant, he responded with "I guess you don't want kids". This floored me. Yes, I want kids, I'm just not pregnant at this time nor am I planning to become pregnant right this moment!

Flying So High!!

I'm so wonderfully happy right now!

We left the house on Saturday morning around 10am and picked up Jana around 11am to head to Norwood's Niche. We got there around noon to find the store locked and dark. We were a little worried but decided to go get something to eat and try back after lunch in case she was just delayed by opening the store. We had a wonderful lunch at Chili's and then headed back to the store to discover that she had been delayed by an emergency vet visit for one of her kitties but that the kitty would be fine.

I took all of my pieces that I had completed but not yet framed with me and she ended up keeping 3 of them for 6month stints as models (titania, sewing seeds, & not forgotten). It will be very neat to see my pieces on the wall next time I'm there. She also gave me a model to stitch that will be going back to her. I've already managed to get 11 hours of stitching into Griffin Kitten as of right now and I'm sure I'll get a few more hours in tonight since I'm having so much fun stitching it.

On the way back to Jana's we stopped at Hobby Lobby and I picked up some pink beads so I can make the requested fobs for Maria and Prinn. I also picked up a larger 11x17 qsnap since they were 30% off.

Sunday morning was full of stitching (hence the 11 hours done on Griffin Kitten). Sunday afternoon we went to Outback for supper with my parents. The food was good but we had a very bad waitress. After supper we were sitting around talking and Dad offered to make me a whole new stand out of oak so that it would be stronger so I'll be getting a new stitching stand at some point next month when he gets it done (WOOHOO).

This morning was the visit to check up on my liver. The doctor was very happy with how everything felt and said that I can return to having the occasional drink and to taking my tylenol arthritis (Thank you Lord!). He also said that he didn't see any problem with me having children in the future and that we could go for it right away if we wanted (DH later told me that he almost asked the doc to leave so we could "go for it"). He didn't do a CT scan there but he did set me one up for this Saturday so I won't have to miss work. I'm not looking forward to the barium milkshake that I have to drink or the IV stick again but it will be nice to have actual pictures of my liver showing that I'm okay. The doc also said that he didn't see any problem with me taking birth control as long as it didn't have estrogen in it. Overall today was a massive amount of good news!

I'm so happy that I'm having a hard time doing anything at work except sitting here smiling like an idiot!

Finally Friday

Today has been one of the longest days that I've had to endure in a long time. I went to bed too late last night so this morning came way to quickly. Got to work and had nothing to do and the bboards weren't real active either so I started stitching.

I managed to get a second color done on both bookmarks and just finished a third color on bookmark c. I'm gonna try to go ahead and finish up C tonight.

I'm excited about tomorrow. I can't wait to see what Susan has for me at Norwood's. I'm also gonna try to stop by a new store that we found on Satellite Blvd to see what kind of selection they have. We tried to go last weekend but they were closed when we went by.

I can't wait to see SG1 and Atlantis tonight. I can't believe there is only 1 more episode in this season after tonight. The season has gone very fast and I'm enjoying the show very much.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

thursday's updates

I watched "Princess Diaries 2" last night. It was cute but not one I'll be watching again. The all the movies you want to watch for $15 bucks at Hollywood has us watching 1 or 2 movies a night and watching a lot of movies that we wouldn't normally rent.

I did manage to upload my pictures last night so here you go:

Cross Stitches:
Titania
Bookmark A from Knotwork Bookmarks 2
Sewing Seeds

Updated kitty pics:
Spike
Mischief
Smokey

I should probably take pics of some of the fobs but I know that I'll never get around to that so I'm not even gonna start. There's not much else going on with me so I'll just leave you with the pics.

waning wednesday

We watched "Mona Lisa's Smile" last night. Despite my best efforts I still ended up crying at the end. I hate this time of the month cause I end up crying at commercials for crying out loud! I did enjoy the movie though and I am very glad that I didn't live in those times.

Had another physical therapy appointment this morning. All the pain in my leg and back is finally gone. I just have a residual funny feeling in my leg but it isn't painful. I have another appointment on the 25th to determine if my back is healed enough to let me do the excersizes all by myself or not. I really hope they'll let me go cause I'm tired of getting up so early, having that workout, and then going to work right after. I end up feeling dirty all day.

I got one color of knotwork done on each of the bookmarks so just three more colors to go and then the wonderful backstitch that I dread with a vengance. I'm very excited about going to Norwood's on Saturday and finding out what pattern she wants me to stitch next. The bookmarks will have to go on the back burner but I don't mind that. I also like the fact that I'll be able to show pictures of the stuff that I stitch for Norwood's since they are already released designs.

Movie Preview

We went to an advanced screening of "Guess Who" last night. It starred Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac. We were given free tickets to the screening so we went. I have to admit that this isn't a movie I would have thought to watch if I hadn't been given free tickets and therefore a free night out but I did enjoy the movie and it had me laughing quite a lot more than I expected to.

I also got a little more stitched on the bookmarks. I now have the borders stitched for B&C so they are coming along nicely. I also took pics of my completed pieces but I need to get them uploaded to webshots tonight so I can post them. I even managed to catch Spike in his "letting it all hang out position" with the camara so I need to post a pic of that because it's just funny.

On a side note, the first guy I saw at work this morning came in to ask why his insurance went up. I had to tell him 6 times that it was because he had an accident. He just couldn't understand why having an accident would raise his insurance. After explaining it 6 times, I finally told him that I wasn't going to expain it again and the facts were that if you have an accident that is your fault then your insurance goes up and that the police sited him as at fault and he admited being at fault when he went to court and paid the ticket so there was nothing that I could do. I'd love to see statistics on how many people truly don't understand this concept and how many are just pretending to be dumb hoping that we'll lower the rate cause they "don't get it". I'm truly beginning to believe that the dumb people are starting to out number the smart ones and it's a very sad thing.

What a wonderful weekend!

On Saturday, I went to the GTG at Maria's. I had a wonderful time talking, eating, stitching and making fobs. It was great to see everyone again. I made it home around midnight and Angela left for her house from there.

I have to admit that I went up the apartment and kissed my DH hello and goodnight and I went right to bed.

While we were getting ready to go out and get something to eat cause I was craving Steak & Shake, Dh put a load of laundry in to wash while we were gone and my wedding rings that have been missing for 3 weeks fell out of laundry. I was so happy. I have no idea how we missed them before. It feels so nice to have them back on my hand.

After lunch, we headed over to Lowe's to see how much a piece of wood to remake the leg on my stand that got broken would cost. I was happy to see that it was only $1 for a piece long enough to make 3 legs. We then had it cut down to the right size and headed over to my parents place. Dad said he could easily cut the notches for me so he's going to go ahead and make me 3 legs so that I have an extra set should a mishap happen again. This made my day. I paid $1 to fix it instead of $100 to replace it.

While we were at the parents house, DH showed dad how to do some things on the computer while I went through a pile of books that mom was going to get rid of. I found several to read so I took those home with me.

We then went home to finish the laundry. I sat down and started stitching on another TW bookmark. I didn't want to stitch anything big because I don't yet have my stand back and I need to be able to drop whatever I start in order to start the next MSing (model stitching) job on Saturday so the bookmark makes a quick little something that I can probably finish before Saturday.

Productive Day

I'm having a good day so far and it's only half over.

I found a mistake in Sewing Seeds last night and had to rip out several rows of stitching which agravated me. I did however manage to finish it today so it is all done and ready to show off for tomorrow.

I had physical therapy this morning with the good therapist this time. He really gave me a workout this time though. I worked up more of a sweat that I do with my normal workout! He ended up with a cold pack to accompany the electrodes instead of the heat pack cause he said I looked warm enough already. My back felt really good when I left but my legs were a little jello-y.

I've managed to make 8 fobs while sitting at work this morning cause it's so slow. I'm to the point where I need more clasps though so I may have to stop on those for today. I did bring TW knotwork bookmarks 2 in to work with me today so I may start another one of those.

Tonight, I'll be putting together spiders while I wait for the batches of banana bread to cook.

Oh Happy Day!

I need to say a big thank you to Valerie. I called Norwood's because I was indeed charged for the pattern. She apologized profusely and is refunding me the money plus the shipping since she made a mistake so you won't owe me anything on that.

The really great thing is that because I called her, we got to talking about what I was working on and I ended up getting hired as a model stitcher too. For the pieces that I want to keep, I guy materials and she'll give me free framing in exchange for showing it for 6 months. For the pieces I don't want to keep, she'll give me the materials to make it and store credit for my time. My first model piece is going to be "Sewing Seeds" ironically enough. It all starting when she asked what she was working on and after she learned that I was working on Sewing Seeds, she commented that she couldn't get any of her current model stitchers to agree to stitch that piece and that she didn't have time either. I told her that I was actually planning to bring it with me on the 19th when I make another trip up there to get an estimate on framing and I'd happily let her show it until I was ready to make another trip up there. She then started explaining how she pays model stitchers.

It was an amazing conversation. Fifteen minutes into a complaint call and I'm back to being a happy customer and new employee.... Life is cool sometimes.

So, THANK YOU VALERIE!!! You just helped my stitching habit along! I can now use the model stitching money for new wonderful colorscape fabric and new wonderful silk flossies that I wouldn't have normally bought.

I really do need to spend more time stitching now! It's a good thing I do stitch as fast as I do! Oh Happy Day!

Stitching along

I managed to get all of the cross stitch done on sewing seeds last night. I'm now working away on all those specialty stitches but they are going pretty quickly.

DH and I went to the store last night to buy eggs and bananas. I'm planning on making banana bread to take to the GTG. I'm gonna make some plain, some with pecans, and some with walnuts. DH says I'm nuts to make this much but I love to bake so that's not a problem. I bought a no bake cherry cheesecake too that I'm debating putting together. I've been craving some of it and DH won't eat it so it seems a shame to waste a whole one when I only want one piece.

Parents wanted to take us to dinner this Saturday. When I told them that I couldn't go, my dad was floored. He couldn't believe I actually had plans to do something. In a way, I can understand. For the first 5 years that we lived here, DH and I have basically been home every weekend doing nothing because we didn't have the money or friends here and we didn't really try to make friends cause we weren't planning on staying here long. We've been here long enough to make friends whether we meant to or not now though so we have things with them, like the stitching GTG this weekend for me and DH is talking about going to the pervert's to spend some time with him since he hasn't seen him much since he got married. We've also been here long enough that we actually have some spending money now so we can go out on the weekends and do things with or without our friends which is very nice. Dad was upset cause Mom had Saturday off but not Sunday. I told him that we could do it Sunday after she got off work if he wanted that way she got a nice meal after work or we could put it off for another weekend but that DH and I usually have something to do almost every Saturday.

I'm wanting to make another trip to Norwood's. After recieving a package yesterday from Norwood's, I definately need to straighten out something. When we were there for Nashville night, I placed an order for a pattern she was out of and some silk floss that she didn't have too. A friend placed an order for a pattern too. When I recieved my package yesterday, my friend's pattern was in with mine and I got charged for it. It wasn't enough money to hurt me but I don't want her to continue billing me for other people's patterns. Plus this time getting the pattern to my friend won't be hard since I'll be seeing her this weekend but I'm sure she would have appreciated having her purchase yesterday like I did.

Well I'm off to see what today is going to bring. It should be pretty dull. My coworker is late today cause of a doctors appointment. I think I finally found someone who goes to the doctor more than I do considering this is her second appointment this week but to different doctors.

Moving Done

The parents are moved. All there furniture is put together. Ah... bliss.

We spent Saturday morning moving my parents to a new place. I'm hoping they stay there for a while cause I'm getting really tired of moving them. They say they are going to take us out to dinner to say thank you. There were two other guys that helped them move and dad just gave them money... I'm wondering if we got the short end of the stick here.

Sunday was a very relaxing day for the most part. We did some bead hunting. I'm trying to find 14mm clear glass beads so I can make some more spider ornaments for Maria. It amazes me how hard it is to find a bead that size! I've found some but they don't look exactly like the others did so I'll just have to see if she likes them.

My fobs are selling at the LNS which is very exciting for me. I may make another trip up there next weekend to peruse the specialty floss again. I can't seem to resist it.

I think I jinxed myself

I posted yesterday that this week should be really nice. I should know better than to say things like that by now.

Around 10pm last night, DH rolled backward in his chair to pet a cat and we heard an aweful crunch sound. Turns out the sound was one of the legs of my stitching stand breaking in half. I was heartbroken. Dh took some wood glue and tried to glue it back together. I guess we'll see if that worked tonight.

Mischief I guess decided to lighten up the night for us around 11pm by being her typical curious self and getting into the binders where I keep my cross stitch patterns as you can see by these pics:

uh oh

gotta hide

safe now

Then this morning dawned very early. My regular physical therapist wasn't there. The guy that took care of me today was a jerk. He'd show me an exercise and tell me to do x many and then leave the room! He didn't even stay and watch to make sure I was doing them right. Instead of helping me stretch like the other guy, this one gave me a sheet and showed me how to do it myself and then left while I did those stretches. Out of the hour that I was there, I saw the guy maybe 15 minutes. I left irritated and wondering exactly what I was paying for when I could have done all that home! In fact I have been doing all that at home with more help from my DH than from this therapist.

This is not a great start to a boss free period!

The beginning of a wonderful time....

Today is the first day of the Boss's vacation. I won't see him again until 3/14/05. Ahhhh.
This should be so nice.

I've been doing my exercises. Dh has to help with one where he uses his hands to put resistance against my legs form me. He now believes that he needs to start doing push ups again to strenthen his arms since I can pretty easily break through the resistance. I told him that it wasn't necessary because in order to strengthen his arms enough that my legs didn't overpower them, he'd have to look like Governer Arnold. :) I can't help it that I have strong legs. I don't even weight train anymore and haven't in 10 years. *shrug*

On the other side, the excercises are really helping this time. I'm down to a spot about the size of my hand that still hurts on my left leg but that's much better than when all this started. We get up early to go to another torture session tomorrow but I know I'll feel wonderful when it's over. ***note to kirabug - I do read the remarks and reply to them even if poor Dh thinks I don't***

Work has been extremely slow so I'm getting time to stitch. AH peace. We're helping the parents move on Saturday and I've been told that I'm not allowed to lift ANY of the boxes so I apparently have to just sit in the apartment and watch the He-Men do it.... sigh... I remember a time when I could have out lifted them all and laughed about it.... hmmm... maybe I do need to get a gym membership again. I will however get lots of stitching done and with the boss being out all next week, I actually have a chance at finishing sewing seeds before the next stitching get together on the 12th.

It amazes me how long these entries get. I start out thinking that I don't have much to say and then I start to type and the words just keep coming out... Am I too long winded?

Snow?!? In March? In Georgia?

Yep, the white stuff fell today. I can't believe the number of people who have called already to ask what the emergency number is for the blizzard! HAH!

We get some heavy flurries and people panic. I love it. While I'm sitting right by the people who are going "I thought it didn't snow in March down here", I am definately not enough of a southerner to panic at the first sight of the little white flurries. The sun is already out and melting everything so no time off work much to DH's disappointment but at least he was able to go outside and stand in the snowfall and be happy for a few moments.

I know I'll be making hot chocolate tonight to celebrate.... Of course I just like the hot chocolate :)