SPONGEBOB SPINSTER PANTS

So apparently I'm a sponge.

But not the good kind.

Instead of soaking in beauty and peace and happiness and tranquility, I seem to be sucking in everybody's bad juju and trying to make it my own and fix it.  

(Without going into details...I seem to get out of my lane here at dialysis and assume the role of confidant, therapist, advisor, and sounding board for my fellow pod mates, the techs, nurses, and janitorial staff. I don't have the ability to say "Gee, I'm so sorry to hear that, but I've got problems of my own, pal."  Instead, I pat pat the complaintant gently and say "Here...let me fix it all for you by obsessing about all of your problems and return everybody to the land of giggles and rainbows.")

Yeah.

I gotta stop doing that.

Your problems, though, are welcome. What little gas I've got left in the tank is all yours, Dearies! Where shall we go on our next adventure?

I'm all hooked up and stitching happily away. (I did, however, play possum a moment ago when the Nurse Practioner came by. She stresses the bejeebers outta me, so I pretended to be sleeping.) I've got Enya in the headphones today and am determined to have an incident free treatment. The sun is shining, I've got my pink fuzzies on, and there is the promise of Chinese food for dinner!

Come tell me all about your corner of the world...is it swell?

SPINSTERDAY

I decided to make Thursday my very own day of the week to do whatever the heck my pitiful little heart desires. I know it seems like I make EVERY day of the week like that, but the truth is that I feel very overwhelmed with the loss of so much time that used to be spent sitting in the Happy Chair looking out the window.

It feels selfish and decadent and completely over indulgent, but I went from having a very very quiet solitary life to having people and noise and chaos and confusion in my face 24/7.  I wasn't exactly what you would call a social butterfly to begin with, so all of this leaving the house business has me looking for my turtle shell and peace and quiet again.

So today I will visit with Dr. Melfi and talk about why I am such a nutjob whackado, and then I might take myself to the library or the House of Stitches for a little more Spinster therapy. Anyplace that lets me fold back into myself a bit and just...be still and happy...sounds perfect to me.

I stitched my eyeballs out yesterday and finished another heart. I am now heading to the lower right corner and then up and back across the piece before giving up:

At least I think so.

All of that could change if something else strikes my fancy.

Tomorrow will be back to the grindstone, but today is all about having a little rest and respite. Tuna steak and salad for dinner tonight and maybe a little walk in the sunshine for some freash air and exercise.

Not a bad way to go, Dearies. Not bad at all. 

Come tell me about your very own day and what you do to self indulge. If you don't and think I'm being even MORE of a big fat lazy spoiled princess, come tell me that too. Either way...I hope it's swell and that you get to do something that makes you happy!

FUTZINGDAY

We had fun at the basketball game, even though my Irish lost:

Before the game, we stopped for salads at a little place called BarBici. The concept is "Italian street food". Ask me how long Magoo's rant was about THAT?!

(Italians, in his opinion, do not have street food. They linger a long time over a meal at a table...not over a paper plate next to some kind of truck. And if they do have a "street food" it would be a slice or a calzone.)

(Guess what two things were not on the menu?)

Anywhoose...I came home and stitched a little before calling it a night:

I've almost made my way across the bottom of the piece, so I might paw through my stash for a change of pace in the next few days. 

Or maybe not. I'm still really enjoying this, so why futz, right?

Speaking of futzing, we're off like a herd of turtles on this somewhat quiet Futzingday, Dearies! I've got YoYo in the 'phones and am going to settle in for a little stitchy time! 

Hope your day is swell and that you're futzing happily! Come tell me all about it!

SPINSTER OUT AND ABOUT

So here I am, out and about...wearing proper shoes and a bra and real pants on a Tuesday! I had an eye exam this morning and stopped for a treat before heading to the Martin's for towels.

Towels.

At the Martin's.

(The Martin's is a fancypants food store where I usually buy food, but they ran a thingie in which you collected points and can now exchange them in for towels.)

(Or a Weight Watchers bathroom scale.)

(But why in the world would I want one of THOSE?)

In any event, as soon as I finish my whateverthisis I'm going to head over and see what's what. Then home to CS2 for a little stitching and napping before heading out to a basketball game.

That's it for now. Hope your Tuesday is swell!

IN WHICH WE ARE FIRMLY BACK ON THE DIET WAGON...

Remember the portly spinster who was steadily losing weight and perfectly behaving herself?

Well, she was replaced by a rice krispy treat-eating glutton who managed to gain back a few pounds before realizing that starting dialysis is no longer a valid excuse after fourteen months.

Phooey.

Fortunately, not too much damage has been done and I am still down a pretty significant amount from my highest ever. But I have a very long way to go before I'm anywhere near goal, so back on track I go.

This means that I will be making salmon and broccoli for dinner tonight, and I'll let Magoo eat the eleventy-seven boxes of TastyKakes he brought back from New Jersey.

Tomorrow, hopefully, I will feel well enough to go for a walk, and I will do everything within my power to resist a hot dog at the basketball game tomorrow night.

Onward!

I managed to stitch a bit during treatment today. I would have accomplished more, but I just couldn't seem to sit comfortably enough and not alarm at the same time. It probably had something to do with the position of the needles, but I didn't want to push my luck and have to be taken off early.

Here's the progress:

Well, Dearies, that does it for me for a Monday afternoon. I hope your week is off to a wonderful start and that your needles or pens or crayons or hooks are flying!  Do something that makes your heart sing and come tell me all about it!

SUNDAY

SATURDAY SPINSTER BLISS

I got a lovely new gadget from Miss Kelly on the etsy, and it's changing my stitchy life! This is a Bitzy Bob Cutie from the shop ThatsSoKellyCo. It is a little mat that holds your scissors, pen, and working threads. Kelly also makes a larger Bitzy Bob with a pocket and closing snap, but I wanted to try this first to see how I liked it.

I love it!

Instead of stowing everything on the arm of the Happy Chair and knocking it off every five minutes, this little gizmo keeps it all together and safe and right where I need it.

A little more progress on my hearts piece:

Quiet Saturday ahead for me, Dearies! I had hoped to go out to dinner tonight, but am still mot feeling quite up to snuff and think I better stay home and rest instead. Rich won't mind...as long as he has unfettered access to the remote he's a happy guy!

I hope your very own weekend is off to a wonderful start and that your needles are flying! Come tell me all about it and show us what's on your q-snaps!

FRIDAY

All hooked up and ready to run, Dearies. I've got YoYoMa in the headphones and my snacks ready to go. No stitching today...to many problems with Buzzy right now to risk it, and they are so short-staffed today the last thing they need is me alarming every other damn minute.

Rich is back in Hoosierville safe and sound and is very happy to report that he got the Miss America company store contract! If you like the pageant, stay tuned for info on how you can buy stuff with the Miss America logo!

Speaking of company stores, I am woefully behind on Spinster Stitcher items, I know. I promise to get my proverbial act together eventually.

Nothing stitchy to report, I'm afraid. I got caught u in watching the TerVee last night, and before I  knew it, it was time for bed. I'll remedy that this weekend...I promise.

I hope your day is exactly what you want it to be! Come tell me all about it!

A VALENTINE FROM ME TO YOU

This piece by the artist Sam Toft is one of my very favorite things on the planet. Looking at it reminds me that my heart is full of love and that I have everything I need because of that.

Thank you, Dearies, for being that love and for carrying me through. I hope that your own hearts are full, and that you feel wonderfully content knowing how much nicer the world is with you all in it!

FUTZINGDAY

Surely, but slowly, I'm making progress. Would you believe me if I told you that I just realized I was stitching HEARTS last night?!

TUESDAY

MONDAY

Sorry for the late posting today, Dearies. I'm still feeling poorly but wanted to share a little stitchy update! Home from d now and going to rest...Happy Monday!

SATURDAY

Don't worry, Dearies. I am still here, but held together with Mucinex and Robitussin at the moment. This bit of unwell is kicking my heiney, but I am kicking right back.

(But gingerly, and with my slippers on.)

Come tell me about your corner of the world and what happens to be strikimg your fancies today!

OH, BOTHER...

Raise your hand if you're completely OVER any more Spinster Stitcher drama.

Wow.

That was a lot more hands than I expected.

I am sicker than a you know what with the flu. Fever, cough, body aches, tummy upset...in short...I am a crockpot full of medium hot mess.

It was to be expected, I suppose. Between seventy degree temperature swings and the fact that I go sit in a freakin petri dish full of germs three days a week, it was bound to happen. My tech was so sick on Friday she could barely stand up, and at least five of my pod mates have been in the hospital with it.

Phooey.

As soon as I can stand, I am going to don a surgical mask and head to the drugstore for industrial strength meds and some more Vic's vapo rub. I slathered myself up like a glazed ham for bed last night and used the remainder of the emergency jar I had stashed in the back of the bathroom cabinet.

But I did want to tell you that I am as sick and tired of my soap opera as I'm sure you are. I was watching Outlander last night and hollered (croaked) at the TeeVee: "Oh my God! Can you people just sit and read a book or something? How much more drama can one time-traveling WWII British Army nurse and an eighteenth century Scottish highlander get in to?!"

So I'm going to aim for less drama and more stitching. I can't make any promises, but we'll see how it goes. 

Happy Thursday, Dearies! Do something drama free and come tell me all about it!

FUTZINGDAY

Yesterday was wonderful. Six hours of uninterrupted Outlander and a lot of stitching. If I told you how much I needed that, would you believe me?

This is the Ink Circles piece I was telling you about. I had a very small start on it last year, but made great progress when I picked it up again yesterday. 

I'm stitching this on 28ct Fog by Picture This Plus using two strands of Weeks Dye Werks Julian. I was a little unsure about it initially, but now really like it. There is a vibrant orchid color in the thread that isn't captured here, unfortunately. 

Off to dialysis I go. I am dragging my feet today and would much rather stay at home and repeat yesterday, but Instead I need to rally my courage and common sense and get to it.

Here's hoping your Futzingday is wonderfully swell! Come tell me all about it!

TUESDAY

Good morning, Dearies!

I'm up early on my day "off" for some reason. I had plans to lounge in the big girl sleigh bed, but I was bright eyed and bushy tailed before I realized what was happening. No complaints though...I like to have a full day of shenanagins to look forward to!

I'm in a bit of a stitchy slump, which I know is to be expected after a big finish. The problem, I think, is that I remain in the mood for a geometric, but I am trying to force it with something non-geo. Today I will remedy that, since I am almost positive I have some Ink Circles charts in my stash that will do the exact trick I need.

My food adventure seems to be working very well. I enjoyed veggie egg rolls for dinner last night and had a rice krispy treat (OK...two rice krispy treats) for dessert. This was a repeat of what I ate on Sunday. I fully expected to get on the scale at treatment yesterday and be up a ton and a half, but I somehow lost weight instead.

Go figure.

It is a bit cold and dreary here in Hoosierville today, which actually makes me very very happy. I've got the crackpot spinster fireplace going and the magic blanket here to keep me cozy, and I am going to settle in with stitching and Netflix for the duration. 

I hope your little corner of the world is exactly how you want it to be today. Do something fun and come tell me all about it!

MONDAY

IN WHICH WE GROCERY SHOP LIKE A TEENAGE STONER

Rich is en route to Atlantic City for the week, so I am left to my own devices. Normally, I do the whole single adult thing pretty well, and I behave myself quite nicely.

Today, though, my grocery cart contained things that even I didn't know I need.

Like Hot Pockets.

And cheesy stuffed pretzel bites.

And vegetable egg rolls, Mountain Dew Ice, rice krispy treats, and some kind of little peanut butter ball thingies that say they were made by the Amish, but somehow came from Brooklyn.

I've got stuff to make sandwiches and enough pop to float a boat, and also managed to get TWO cans of wavy bar-b-que Pringles.

Pringles!

They're not even real food, and yet I just had to have them because they're wavy.

I think I got little hot dogs wrapped in bagels, too, but by the time I got everything home and put away I was horrified to look any closer.

In the midst of all of this was a bag of baby spinach and a jar of sun dried tomatoes, so I guess this means I will make my seafood pasta sometime soon.

I can honestly say it has been YEARS since I bought this kind of complete junk, but the fact of the matter is...I am really looking forward to it. If I can watch portions and not get too crazy, this little culinary break might be just what I need.

Tomorrow, if I'm good at dialysis, I'm going to hit the Panera drive through on the way home for some soup. I used to go to Panera quite a bit, but stopped going for some reason. Now, though, it is literally on my way home, so I might as well enjoy it every now and then.

No stitching to report, but I'm going to get to it right now. I hope your Sunday is wonderful and that you'll come tell me what's on your menu for the week!

SAAAAAHHHHHHTURDAY...

Yesterday's treatment was a bit rough, but I survived it and came home to watch a little TeeVee before hitting the big girl sleigh bed. I was very happy to learn that my fluid gain from Monday to Friday was minimal...only two pounds.  Now if we can just get this arm back in shape, life will be perfectly swell.

Today has dawned bright and sunny and I am in the Happy Chair with an entire week's worth of newspapers to enjoy:

There were a few days of no delivery this week because of the cold, so yesterday brought a stack to catch up on!

My damn good and crackpot spinster fireplace are really doing their trick this morning. I had run out of my favorite pods...Starbucks French Roast...but thanks to a speedy delivery from the Keurigs, I am back in the happy saddle once more.

Isn't it funny how running out of something can throw your whole game off? I still had damn good, and it was OK, but it just wasn't the same somehow.

(I really am a creature of routine.)

(But I've learned that it's OK. This is how my brain works. The little hampster runs and runs on his little wheel until he is all tuckered out, and a familiar routine...like damn good and the paper...or running the vacuum cleaner on a Saturday morning...or making a pot roast on a snowy Sunday...comforts and soothes him, and gets him re-energized to go again.)

(I've also learned that very little of this craziness is under my control. Apparently my adrenal glands are squirting so much goofy juice into my system that I am in a perpetual state of high alert. I always thought it was just me being me, but there really is a physiological component to all of this that has put my tendency to fret on hyperdrive.)

So I've got that going for ne.

I am going to get my nails done at 1:00 today. JB Magoo reminded me that I promised myself to do this every now and then as a way to be nicer to myself in the face of dialysis, so I'm going to do just that. 

(But it feels so very very decadent and indulgent!)

When I'm done playing Marie Antoinette, I'm going to come home and play with this:

I think this was started sometime in 2003 or 2004, but I could be mistaken. This is Bent Creek's Big Zipper, and was released as a series. You got the linen and big chart first and then the various blocks later on. I seem to remember, though, that I bought the entire thing in one big zippered pouch...hence the zip part.

Anywhoose...that's what I'm going to play with today. 

I hope your weekend is starting swell and that you are having your very own Saaaaaahhhhhhhturday. Do something aaaahhhh inspiring and come tell me all about it!

WELL THAT WAS SURPRISINGLY PRODUCTIVE...

Don't ask me how, but I cleaned and re-organized the cube room studio.

Again.

I ordered and received a nylon toy box from the Targets (for a whopping $15), and finally got rid of the big pile of canvases stacked in the corner:

The canvases are on top for now, but will be stored flat in an artist's portfolio that is on its way from the amazons. (Those puppies range anywhere in price from $12 to hundreds of dollars. I got the $12 one.)

Then I hung my knitting stuff on a few Command hooks to get them off the wall:

And I consolidated all of my cross stitch wips into an empty basket to get rid of more clutter:

This was completely unplanned, but a nice way to spend day three of the deep freeze. I was a bit too tired to stitch last night, but we'll see what I can do to remedy that tonight after treatment. I pulled a very old wip from Bent Creek called The Big Zipper, so we'll see if that strikes my fancy for a few days over the weekend.

So that's it, Dearies,  I made good use of my little staycation without even trying to! A finish and a clean studio heading into February!  Woo hoo!

I'm off to the d-chair in a few moments. Hopefully the car will start...it didn't yesterday and had to be tended to, but since it is now a full three degrees above zero instead of twenty two degrees below zero...I'm hopeful.

Happy Friday! Come tell me all about your plans for the weekend!

HAPPY DANCING

This was such a joy to stitch from start to finish. I don't know if it was the fabric or the silk or the sparkle of the beads or the fact that this entire kit was a surprise gift from a dear stitchy angel friend, but I do know that it was completely wonderful.

Rich commented that I had a peaceful smile on my face every time I played with this, and that's exactly what I will remember every time I look at it...peace and happiness.

Glendon Place
Red Velvet Cake
28ct Opal from Picture This Plus
Dinky Dyes silks
Mill Hill beads

Stay warm and safe and dry today, Dearies! Do something wonderful for yourself and come tell me all about it!

MID-WEEK BREAK

Like the rest of the world, we are experiencing our share of weather at the moment. As I type this it is -14 degrees outside with a windchill of -44.

Tonight the actual temperature is expected to drop to -21, an official record cold for Hoosierville.

I'm happy enough to stay inside, because this means no dialysis for me today!  An unexpected mid-week break!

No stitching or beading to report.  I was a complete lump and did nothing yesterday except watch TeeVee and look at stuff on my iPad thingie. I watched Housewives and two really really awful movies and then called it a day and went to bed early.

If there were a prize for complete inertia I would have most certainly earned it yesterday.

Today I will finish my damn good, have a nice hot scrubby shower, and finish Red Velvet Cake. I have about a quarter of it yet to bead, so that should hopefully comprise about an afternoon.

So that's it for me, Dearies. If you are participating in this Polar Vortex, I hope you are warm and safe and dry. God keep you if you have to be out in it....stay safe!

MONDAY...MONDAY

The snow is coming down and I'm getting ready to head out into it to the d-chair. But before I go, here are some progress pics of the beading adventure on Red Velvet Cake:

Happy Monday, Dearies!

EASY LIKE A SUNDAY MORNING...

Oh, what a wonderful morning we're having here in Hoosierville!

It all started yesterday when JB Magoo asked me what I would like to do. 

"I'd like to clean the apartment to within an inch of its life, change the bed, flip the mattress, do the laundry, put the Christmas decorations away, deep clean the fridge, freezer, and pantry, organize the studio, read the paper cover to cover, finish my book, stitch, and take a nap."

And then we laughed and laughed and laughed.

I finished my second cup of damn good, sat in the Happy Chair for a minute, and then proceeded to accomplish the entire list.

(Pause for reaction.)

I had no earthly idea where all of the energy and motivation came from until Magoo pointed out that it seems like every OTHER Saturday is good. This was a little strange until it dawned on me why that is.

Every other Friday I get a big fat dose of a drug called Mycera. This is used to boost my red blood cells, because my type of kidney disease causes anemia. I used to get the Lance Armstrong drug called Aranesp, but apparently my insurance company got tired of paying $22,000 a month for it, and demanded that I go with the cheper alternative.

Anywhoose, this drug apparently makes me feel like an Amish Wonder Woman, because the taking of it seems to correspond with a day long cleaning frenzy that results in a very happy Sunday.

Which brings me to today.

I woke up to a clean apartment, had my damn good, made cinnamon rolls, and lit a new Yankee candle called Cozy by the Fire. I read the paper, got my blanket situated just right, picked up my stitching, and announced "Today is starting out to be a very good day."

For all I know the new head meds have kicked in, but I'm not going to question it. All I do know is that happy and calm and feeling well sure beats the daylights out of hurting and feeling terrified at the bottom of the well.

Beading on Red Velvet Cake has commenced! I was trying to remember the last big beading project I played with, and I think it's Vaceila/Angel of Love. I do like the beading, but I am struggling with finding a comfortable way to hold the project and negotiate the beads at the same time. Today, I might try to rig up the floor stand and sit in the recliner to see if that helps.

So that's it for me today, Dearies. It's cold and snowy and a bit blustery outside, but we are warm and safe and dry and well fed with lots of tasty leftovers. I was going to make a big pot roast today, but we are expecting significant snow tomorrow, and it occured to me that coming home to a hot meal out of the crock pot might be wonderful on a dialysis Monday.

Come tell me all about life in your corner of the world. I hope it's swell and everything you want it to be!

FRIDAY NGHT HAPPINESS AND...BULL RIDING

Last night was wonderful and a bit nuts.  I came home from treatment, drank two big cups of tangerine tea, made No Peek Chicken (*) for dinner, and then settled in to stitch.

I finished the stitching portion of Red Velvet Cake!

Please excuse the wrinkles, but I didn't want to waste time finding the iron and getting it all perfect before I showed you.

I'm going to put this puppy on big q-snaps later and get to beading.

After my little happy dance, I was wide awake, so I flipped on the TeeVee and got completely mesmerized by the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) championship.

Until 3am.

Let's not even try to analyze that one, shall we?

Today is cold, but the sun is shining. I am going to putz a bit...maybe do a little cleaning and cooking and un-decorating...maybe not. I'm going to let the day tell me where it wants to take me.

Maybe back to the big girl sleigh bed for a nice long nap?

So that's the report for today, Dearies. I hope your very own Saturday is wonderfully swell and that you get to do whatever makes your heart sing!

(*) No Peek Chicken isn't exactly a culinary masterpiece, but it is something my dad used to make right after mom died as a means of making sure a hot dinner was on the table. Mix two boxes of wild rice, a can of cream of chicken soup, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a soup can full of water (or chicken broth) in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Then put four boneless skiness chicken breasts on top, sprinkle them with an envelope of Lipton Onion Soup, and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for a couple of hours...depending on the size of the chicken breasts (mine were huge). Let rest for five minutes. No peeking!

ALMOST THERE!

I didn't get needle and thread in hand until a bit later in the evening, but did manage to make a fair amount of progress on Red Velvet Cake:

Only a few small areas to go and the stitching will be finished. Then it's on to the beading!

Today I will visit with three docs in the space of three hours. First, Dr. Melfi will help me unpack all of the stuff in my head that threw me to the ground, and then she'll help me make sense of it and put it into perspective. Then, Dr. P will examine Buzzy 2.0 and remove the surgical tape. Finally, Dr. Barbara (my very favorite family doctor who is a dead ringer for Nicole Kidman) will conduct my annual physical with soft encouragement and a few pats on my arm when I break out into the ugly cry over how completely overwhelmed I am.

Which leads me to two big decisions I made while tossing and turning in the big girl sleigh bed last night.

I have decided to put the 24/7 worry, stress, and management of my health on a shelf. For what feels like forever, I have been obsessively fretting over every single component of everything having to do with the physical functioning of myself, and I'm exhausted. The dialogue in my brain is a loop of worry. Worry about weight and blood pressure and potassium and phosphorous and my heart and lungs and whether I'm in menopause and what is that pain and am I going to pass out and when will I get a new kidney and how much is the needle going to hurt and did I remember to floss and why are my eyes so dry and how bad will my arm be scarred and is there a blood clot and when will I regain use of my left hand and why is my hair thinning and am I sleeping too much or not enough and should I be doing more exercise and why am I not losing weight anymore and ....

Somewhere along the line I got bogged down. Hard. 

I am smart and careful and compliant with all the things I should be doing. For the most part, I eat well, watch my fluid intake, and take all of my meds on time. Could I stand to lose another hundred pounds? Yes.  But obsessing about it every day has put me in a bad place and I need to pull out of it.

This doesn't mean I'm quitting dialysis.  Quite the opposite. I will still do my thing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday like a big girl, but instead of stressing myself into a stroke over what might happen, I am going to trust my team to do their thing and just...breathe.

I thought I knew how to manage this, but it turns out that living with chronic illness and ambulatory life support is actually a fluid situation...it is not a nice neat flow chart that remains in order. You have to be able to adjust yourself and adapt to what comes and understand that change doesn't always mean decline. Sometimes it just means change.

(About the only way I can describe it is that I feel like I'm driving a semi truck full of explosives up a hill. I have a map and a plan. But every now and then something blocks the road I'm on, and turning the wheel feels like I'm going to plunge off a cliff. What I haven't realized yet is that sometimes turning the wheel PREVENTS you from driving off the cliff.)

So this is me turning the wheel.

My second big decision relates to this thing of ours.

You know this facacta rotation I started in which I go back through the blog and pull all the stuff I haven't finished for that month and work on it?

Well, the only thing that did was throw me into a very sad place of remembering what my life used to be. Seeing all of the pictures of my house and Stewey and reading stories about my old life with my sister and Bosco and all of our shenanagins wasn't a happy trip down memory lane. All it did was bring the grief over losing all of that back with a vengeance. That pain is sharp still, and I really don't think I need to do that to myself...especially now.

I don't know for sure if it was the anasthesia that did it, or the accumulation of everything, or pain, or the moon, or what. But I do know that I was able to clearly see two things that certainly aren't helping me shake it off, and for that I am truly very grateful.

So today we're moving onward. I have about another hour left before I have to get it together to leave the apartment. Fortunately, I have my second cup of damn good ready and the newspaoer all ready and waiting. The blanket is keeping my toes cozy and it almost looks like the sun is trying to come out!

Thank you, Dearies, for listening to my blathering today. I hope things in your corner of the world are a lot less angst-ful than they are sometimes here in Hoosierville. If you're driving your own semi...steady on, friend! Steady on!

TEST 2

TEST

SO MUCH BETTER...EDITED TO ADD PHOTO

I stitched!

Last night, bolstered by a cup of tangerine tea, I hooked up my lap stand, took a deep breath, and decided that I was going to put one stitch into Red Velvet Cake or else.

It was very slow going, and first it felt very awkward, but before I knew it, I had completed another whole section!

Here's a picture of my progress:

Oh, wait. I forgot.

DANG YOU, BLOGGER ERROR 400 AND YOUR REFUSAL TO PUBLISH PHOTOS! 

(Because, let's face it. Without photos, this is just a long rambling mess of drivel from a neurotic old portly broken down lunatic spinster.)

(And nobody needs very much of THAT in their life on a random Wednesday.)

I suppose it will all work itself out, but confess that the stress of not being able to use my iPad to engage with the world in this way kept me tossing and turning last night. I finally embrace technology and then it bites me in the heiney.

Today will be a day for research into how to solve the problem, but if any if you have insight that would keep me from throwing a perfectly good iPad across the room, that would be swell too. (Once again...I am able to compose a post using Blogger, but if I insert a picture of any kind I get an "Error 400...unable to publish" message if I try to save or post it. Text only seems to be working just fine.)

The big black dog (*) is still here with me, I'm afraid, but tomorrow I will visit with Dr. Melfi, the surgeon, and then my family doc for a good look-see. Between the three of them, I'm sure we'll come up with a solution...even if it's eat more kale and ramp up the morning treadmill time.

(But I'm really hoping it's more along the lines of eat more doughnuts and ramp up the stitchy time.)

Another very heartfelt thank you for visiting with me down here at the bottom of the well, Dearies. I am especially grateful for the personal notes and all of the beautiful pictures on the social medias.  (If one is going to lie flat on one's back in the cold dark mud of wallowness, it sure is nice to have sweet notes from friends to read and pretty things to look at!)

Onward!

(*) Does anybody know which author used this metaphor for the d-word? I knew once, but forgot...Hemmingway? Roth?  

(It's here that I should clarify that I am in no way implying that big black dogs are in any way bad. It's just an expression that I have always used because it stuck in my little brain.)

(But I am completely terrified of big black dogs...both the actual and metaphorical kind.)