Classics 101

So, one of my 2014 resolutions or goals was to read some of the classic literature that I missed along the way.  I started with:

Ernest Hemingway's last great novel The Old Man and the Sea.  Yes, I picked it because it was short and readily available. I enjoyed the book and thought it was a charming fish story.  I appreciate that is was the last catch of Santiago's life, in a life of struggle, while looking back on his life and his youth.  But I didn't get all of the deep meaning: " the Jungian concept of  individuation entails a process of gradual and lifelong connecting with the unconscious at ever deeper layers, ultimately with the collective unconscious which is hard to define but in some ways can be understood as nature itself."  Say what?  Oh I mean...yeah, that too??!? Huh??

I surely must not be much of a deep thinker.  Reminds me of when I read and watched The WIzard of Oz. Another charming story of a girl, who wants to runaway and figures out that home is best after all.  Then I read that it is really about politics.  The Yellow Brick Road being the gold standard and the Emerald City being greenbacks.  The Wizard being a corrupt politician. America being the Wicked Witch of the West.  Scarecrow the American farmer.  Tim Man is the steel industry. Cowardly Lion is the American military in the Spanish American war. The winged monkeys are the Native American culture. What what?!?  Oh yeah, yeah I see that...not!

High school English class totally ruined the classic Alice In Wonderland for me.  All about the British monarchy.  I like the book. Then I had to do the research and write the paper.  I wrote the paper.  My mother (the English major) proofread it. Read: marked it up in red.  Then my Dad got a hold of it and rewrote it.  Pretty much none of what I wrote remained.  By the way, it was a horrible experience...and I got a crappy grade out of it.

I think from now on, I'm just going to read the book and decide for myself.  If all I get is information at the shallow end of the pool then so be it.

Quilt update: first row

I got started!  Found a great baseball material to go between each of the tshirts. 

And then I found this great puzzle piece (Autism symbol) in the same neon colors of the tshirts to tie it all together!  Not sure about the back yet.  I might do a fleece?

Roadtrip to the Ham

Had a good road trip to Birmingham.  T'dawg is doing well with his physical therapy.  I went with him to see the doc.  He showed us a lot of pictures from the operation.  The bones, rotator cuff and bicep tendon all looked good. Whoo hoo!  The labrum was torn in two places. The doc ended up putting in 5 anchors (two for one tear and three for the other).  And said he thought from the fraying, that part of the tear was an old injury.  Likely dating back to his baseball days (4th grade?).

T'dawg said he was concerned, prior to surgery, that nothing would be discovered.  He had a lot of pain.  And he had tried therapy.  But the MRI only indicated a small tear in an area that was not hurting.  The doc said that the MRI was read incorrectly.  But said that he goes more by what the patient says than the tests.  Tests are a good tool.  But nothing still compares to going in and actually looking around.

I had a similar experience with my shoulder.  The test indicated bone spurs and arthritis.  I did rehab but didn't get any pain relief.  So I told the doc to go ahead and clean up the bone spurs.  When he got in there, the rotator cuff was full torn!  So, I didn't doubt T'dawg when he said it hurt bad enough for surgery (and possibly missing football).

Since he is young and in excellent health, he is healing quickly.  He can start getting out of the brace and ease back into driving. No running nor arm weight lifting (legs are ok) for three months.  And therapy will start getting intense.

It was tough to leave him again.  But so good to see the smiling face and the good report from the doc.

Designer Purse for Less

Want a custom designed Vera Bradley purse for less?   The least expensive item is: a placemat!

Fold in half and stitch the two short sides on the wrong side.

Turn right side out.  It could have been either pattern.

See how cute?  I got a pink one too.  I picked out some cute buttons.

The next time I'm in town I will go to Jo-Ann's or Hancock and get some handles.  I'll blog the finished product later this week.  Or you could leave the handles off and use like a makeup bag.

Sew Much Fun

 My new little friend is out of the box!  I made a bobbin and got her threaded and ready to go.

This is already sew (hee hee) much easier than the old Singer my Mom had.  I know I have only scratched the surface of what she can do.  But I'm excited :)

Back in the Saddle

After a long hiatus, I am back teaching Sunday school again.  Debbie, Pam and Nancy were my original teachers, each teaching one month per quarter.  Pam requested a break so Donna stepped up about a year ago.  One day after class we were talking and it was evident to me that Debbie needed a break.  They were wondering who might be willing to teach.  And I volunteered!  I have the extra time and I feel really comfortable with this group of ladies.  I also like teaching only one month per quarter.  It is a lot of pressure to teach each and every Sunday.  I think I'm doing ok so far.  Well, they haven't come at me with pitchforks, nor have I had a mass exodus.

I still miss my former class.  We had such fun and a lot of growth.  I must say that it is harder to teach with bulk material, that is material made to fit the masses.  It was more enjoyable and I think beneficial to be able to direct the class based on the ladies' interests and spiritual needs.  It seems that the bulk material often covers the same books of the Bible over and over.  And completely misses some of the others.  It also has a tendency to skip passages, so you can squeeze the entire book of John into one quarter of study.  But you know me, I'll cover all of the verses and I'm not one to read your study guide to you.  I will dig deeper to inform, challenge and get you thinking.

The project begins...

Yippee yahoo...I found the tshirts.  Now I just have to master the rotary cutting tool. I look like a kid that loves to play with band-aids!

 But I did manage to cut out 30 blocks.  And iron on fusible interfacing. 

Now I have to decide how to lay it out.

I like the look of this big block quilt that was featured on PBS' Sewing with Nancy this weekend.

Time to get the graph paper and start doodling...

Saddened

Thursday night, I got the bad news.  My former neighbor and friend, Jimmy had died.  He was up in Nashville at Vanderbilt hospital for heart surgery and passed on the operating table.

It hit me pretty hard.  I think it is because it was the same heart valve replacement surgery that my Dad was supposed to have had.  The doctors decided that Dad was not strong enough to endure the surgery.  And that made me so mad.  How dare they!  I wasn't ready to hear that. But I know now that they were correct.  Dad did not live much longer and was able to go home, as he wished, to pass quietly in his chair.

The difference was that Dad knew he was not a candidate for surgery, even before the surgeon turned him down.  But Jimmy was so confident that the surgery would go well. That he would be home by today.  He had so much that he was eagerly looking forward to doing this spring.  He was so confident, that no one expected complications.

The funeral on Sunday was somber.  It should have been a celebration of his 88 year life and his home-going.  But the shock factor overshadowed it all. 

My only comfort being that I will see my friend again someday...

Post surgery

By Friday, Tdawg finally got to take a real shower.  He was a happy camper.  The therapy has been going well.  He worked at first on his forearm and hand, getting everything back to normal after the nerve block. Now he is working on getting the shoulder moving. Even though it says no sling.  He only had it off to shower.  He said it hurts to have it off.  So much for being a rebel.

Surgery

Well, Tuesday did not go as I had hoped.  Cletus got sick over the weekend and ended up spending five days in bed.  I don't know if he technically had the flu...but he had a high fever (over 102) and was a mess.  He finally went back to work last Thursday.  Not sure he is completely well even now.

So, I was going to have to do the surgery thing by myself.  I thought about leaving Buddy home, but Cletus was not well enough to see to him.  The morning did not go as planned (does it ever).  I was so anxious about not getting up with the alarm that I woke up at 3a and could not get back to sleep.  Not the ideal way to start the day.

As it turns out, I left on time but had to go back to the house and ended up leaving late because I wasn't feeling well.  I did manage to get to St Vincent's in Bham before they did surgery.  Tdawg had left for Bham several days prior, when we realized how sick Cletus was.  Tdawg surely didn't need to get the flu/virus right before surgery!  And thankfully a friend drove him from campus to the hospital.

This is how he was when I got there.  Saying he was having a wardrobe malfunction (one shoulder gown) and thinking that he hadn't had any drugs.  Hmm.  I think maybe he had.  He was hilarious!

After awhile they took him off to get a nerve block.  Because of that, after surgery, he was not groggy at all.  Not to say that he was in a great mood.  He was good for the nurse this time, but surly with me. Last time he told the nurses: "For the love of Mike, will you please SHUT UP!"  He was boo boo faced in this pic because he wanted his phone and I wasn't sure it was such a good idea.

The surgery itself went well.  The labrum was torn in two places (top and front) and the doc put in anchors.  With therapy and the brace (6 weeks) he should be in good shape and well enough to play this fall.

Before too long, he forgave me.  And when he woke up a bit more, I let him have the phone.  The nerve block, surgery and recovery took a pretty good while, so it was 5p by the time he was ready to go.  Sadly, that meant that the hospital pharmacy was closed and I had to drive in the rush hour traffic.  Ugh!

I am getting old AND turning into my mother!  I get a bit snarky when I have to wait two light changes.  I don't like driving in traffic.  Or after dark.  Or very far.  So five o'clock traffic on 280 and I-20/59 is a nightmare for me.  But we made it without incident back to campus.  His friends got him something to eat while I got to get the pain med prescription filled in a seriously sketchy area of town. I'm glad we made it out of there without an incident.  For some reason, Buddy didn't want to take off his sunglasses in Walgreens.  Being 6'6" and with the big coat and the dark wrap around sunglasses...he looked mighty questionable!

I got back to campus for a second time.  And Tdawg set up with pillows and a movie, an ice pack and pain meds.  And took off for home.  He had set up pretty much 24/7 care from some of the pre-nursing students.  (after having him as a patient, they may end up changing their major!).  I started home and stopped for dinner.  While at dinner, I realized that I still had Tdawg's therapy instructions.  He was starting therapy at 10a the next morning on campus.  So I went back (third time) to campus...and then on home.  I got home about 11p.  Seriously the longest day ever.

Bucket Book

Awhile back, S gave me a beautiful hand sewn book.  It was so pretty that I hated to use it.  I couldn't think of a worth use. But after talking to V, I've decided to make it my Bucket Book. 

I started with 2012 (when I got the book) and added pictures of parasailing in Panama City Beach. 
Then the 2013 helicopter ride at PCB.  Hopefully, each year I can add a new adventure. 
My hope for 2014 is to add skydiving.

Some other ideas include: scuba diving, hot air ballooning, snow boarding, running a race, driving a race car, lots of travel (all 50 states, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland) and a few tame ideas: read classic literature and write a book.

I googled some other people's ideas...and found that I had done more of the items on their list than I had ever imagined.
1. Go White water rafting (in Colorado, Alaska and Tennessee)
2. Learn to sail a Catamaran
3. Do a flip on a trampoline (as a kid...prob'ly couldn't do that now)
4. Swim in the ocean (Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico)
5. Ski (in Colorado and Alaska)
6. Attend a rodeo (in Colorado, Wyoming and Alabama)
7. See the Grand Canyon
8. Ride in a police car (not as a criminal)
9. See a glacier (College Fjords in Alaska)
10. Hug a redwood tree
11. Hike a mountain (Devils Head in Colorado)
12. Go Snowshoeing
13. Go camping in the Snow, on purpose
14. Fish for salmon (in Alaska)
15. Canoe (in Colorado, Florida and Mexico)
16. Go to a high school reunion
17. Donate toys (yearly)
18. Give blood (frequently)
19. Donate clothes (often)
20. Send care packages to soldiers
21. Participate in a charity walk (several)
22. Read all of the books your fav author has written (Lillian Jackson Braun and Anne George)
23. Bet on a dog race (it was a date, true story)
24. Learn to play golf
25. Ice skate backwards (I got all the way to jumping, when I was younger)
26. See a foreign film (a must if taking a film class)
27. Play slots (I actually did quite well in Reno and Gulfport, MS)
28. Go Christmas caroling
29. Learn how to fence (got college credit for it too!)
30. Visit a Bed & Breakfast (a "haunted" one in Colorado)
31. Build a gingerbread house (so fun with a class of  kindergarteners)
32. Start the research on your family tree
33. Watch a movie at a Drive-In theatre (they are hard to find, nowadays)
34. Refinish furniture
35. Make something on a pottery wheel
36. Learn to paint
37. Make jewelry
38. Make a stain glass project
39. Adopt an animal
40. Participate in a murder mystery dinner
41. Take a cruise (so much fun!)
42. See the Eiffle Tower
43. See the Tower of London
44. Visit the Palace of Versailles
45. See the Mona Lisa
these weren't on the list...but should have been ;)
46. Sing with a real Spanish Mariachi band
47. Drive to Wyoming in the middle of the night to eat breakfast at sunrise at Denny's
48. Eat toast in Texas
49. Eat at the northern most Denny's (in Fairbanks, Alaska)
50. Try exotic food (frog legs, squid, pheasant, caribou, octopus)

The Last Place You Look...

YESSSS!!  I was stripping T'dawg's sheets to throw them in the washer.  Thought I better check and make see that there weren't stray dirty clothes under the bed. And there is was...an under the bed box.  Guess what was in it: the tshirts!!  How silly of me!

Well, they were the last place I would think to look.  And sure enough, "tucked away for safe keeping" as my mother would say.  So that made my day!!

Fresh Start for 2014

I love the fresh start. So, I have boxed up the Christmas decoration.  Organized the garage.  And started going through the closets.  Not sure how I managed to accumulate so much, in such a short amount of time.  But I know if I don't keep after it, that it will get out of control...because as I get older, I get more stressed, more anxious.  So as a coping mechanism, I need to have less clutter and accomplish projects in smaller steps.  I'm looking forward to a joyful and productive 2014.



 

Happy New Year

May Light always surround you; Hope kindle and Rebound you. May your Hurts turn into Healing; your heart embrace Feeling.  May Wounds become Wisdom.  Ever Kindness a Prism.  May Laughter infect you.  Your Passion resurrect you.  May Goodness inspire your deepest Desires. Through all that you Reach for, may your arms Never tire.  -D. Simone

A new year.  A new start. I don't want to be rooted in the past (good or bad).  Rather liking that 2013 is in the rearview mirror.  But instead of wanting to forget 2013, I hope that I learn from it.  I wish to be a better me today than I was  yesterday.   Always striving to learn.  To grow.