Well, y'all asked...

"Well butter my butt, and call me a biscuit!"
I think I'm turning into one of 'dem crazy county folks.  I met a former neighbor for lunch at Jack's (mercy me). And spent 2-1\2 hours there. I was beginning to wonder I'd the po-lice would come get us for loitering.

Then onto the Dollar General. It is a glorified gas station without gas. You don't have to get all fancied up to go there...even though they have some mighty purdy of 'dem plastic flowers. And Lord have mercy the place was packed! Goodness gracious, all I needed were some hangers.

Welp, y'all wondered what I do all day..

Sadness

March is over.  April is half gone.  Where does time go?  It really does dissolve like snow.

One of my bestest friends is in pain and I don't know how to help.  I know of her pain...it hasn't gone completely away.

I lost my mom when I was 25.  I was young, newly married, living out of state.  I was in denial.  We found out right before Easter, that year, she had Stage 4 lung cancer.  The by-product of heavy smoking since she was a teen (harder knowing she could have made better choices). She was going to fight.  She did radiation and chemo. She hated losing her independence.  She hated losing her hair even more.  She couldn't write (too shaky). She couldn't read (no memory).  She couldn't drive (seizures). But I still didn't think that she would leave before Christmas of that same year.  I was in shock.  I was completely numb and I didn't even know it. (as a side note: don't ever paint a room when you are numb. I guarantee you won't like the color later).

Twenty-six years later, I have been without her more years than I was with her. I'm still upset.  She barely met Cletus.  She never met the boys.  I never got to know her as an adult.  I wanted her back!  I have been cheated!  Then I had a dream.  She was back.  But still sick.  She was going to have to go through the radiation and chemo all over again, because I was selfish and wanted her back.  I guess I grew up that night and realized that some things you just can't change.

I still miss her...everyday.   

Pinterst Fun

We had our second Pinterest party at church.  I missed the first one back in the fall.  But jumped in with both feet for this one.  I suggested we do a wreath....so, I was volun-told to teach it.  Not hard.  Just a grapevine wreath. You can make your own, but I just went to Jo-Ann's with a coupon.  Then pick the flowers you like.  The original was hydrangeas.  Not my favorite.

So I got a variety of flowers at the Dollar Tree.  Some burlap ribbon (with wire works better) and a letter.  My first letter was too small for the wreath. 

This was my sample wreath:

And then today, I made one for V, since she wasn't able to come today.  Sure hope she likes it!

We had a few ladies come to play.  Sure glad I thought to bring wire cutters to take the flower arrangements apart!  Side note, you probably could get away with not using a hot glue gun but I used it sparingly at the end.

It was fun to see the creative side of people.  S put a bird on hers.  L put feathers on hers.  Everyone's looked great!  I could do that every weekend :)  Too bad they don't make animal print flowers.  Tee hee hee!

So Long February

For a short month, February sure was long.  And crazy.  The weather was nuts.  It was freezing cold for days on end.  We were told that snow was coming to the deep south.  And we got...well,  I'm originally from Denver and spent 3 years in Alaska.  So that is barely a dusting!  But down here, they closed schools!  Crazy!

Looks like a couple tablespoons of salt.

 

Then it got warm.  And then cold again.  Snow, they say.  Yeah right.  But...it really did snow!

And it was so pretty for a couple of hours!

New Yoga Poses

I think I may have created a few new yoga poses tonight.  The flailing windmill where I tried to desperately to keep my balance on my left (formerly broken) foot.  And the pictured: downward facing cow.  Despite my lack of grace and flexibility, I did have a good time and plan to go back.  One day I might even be able to do the Evil (or Eagle).  I also hope that I can eventually get out of bed in the morning.

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.