SATURDAY SPINSTER BLISS...UPDATED

Say hello to my new mug from the WalMarts.  She is a very big girl, and comes in at a whopping 27 ounces!  That's an entire VAT of damn good, Dearies, and I intend to slurp them to the very last drop!

(The mug is one of a set of four from the Pioneer Woman line of goods, and the entire set cost $17 and change. It was a splurge I could easily justify, especially since these are technically soup mugs and JB and I will get a lot of use out of them this winter!)

My evening was rather blurry, but I think I managed to watch a movie and have some dinner. The movie was The Favourite and dinner was veggie egg rolls and sushi. Both were equally delicious.

Today has dawned cool and cloudy and has me hankering to decorate CS2 for Fall. I have all of my things in totes out in the storage closet, so it shouldn't be too much trouble, but I am also wanting to grab a blanket, light the crackpot spinster fireplace, and stitch all day.

*Apparently the universe wants me to stitch all day. I can't get to the totes without help from JB:

Do you think there will ever come a time when I realize I might be able to do both, but in moderation?

I'm fretting over this hurricane and praying for all in its path. I was trying to think of a place last night that has zero weather to contend with, but I couldn't come up with such a place. I suppose it's Somebody's way of keeping us all humble and on our toes, but I still wish nobody had to face it. 

Happy Saturday! Come tell me all about your comings and goings and doing today! 

STARTING WEIGHT: 266
LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT: 258.7

CURRENT WEIGHT: 256.3

WEIGHT LOST THIS WEEK: 2.4 

FIRST GOAL: 252

GOAL WEIGHT TO GET A NEW KIDNEY: 242

ULTIMATE LIFETIME GOAL: 160

Well, the end of treatment today was interesting.  I gained very minimal fluid since Wednesday and was really excited to see how well I did eating-wise this week. My tech and I decided to go for it and we selected an off weight that would be slightly under my dry weight. (Dry weight means you don't have any excess fluid. In my case, my dry weight has recently be re-set to 117kg, down from 119kg.)

OK...I can see your eyes glazing over.

Basically what happened was a "soft crash" because we tried to take too much fluid off. But, because I'm a doofus, as I was passing out and my blood pressure was 90/40 I was hollering "Don't put the fluid back! Don't put the fluid back!" like a total lunatic.

They put a LITTLE of the fluid back and I came off the scale at 116.5kg!

Oh, happy dance of joy and wonderment!

Sorry to do the kilo thing to you, but we think in those terms on dialysis. One kilo equals 2.2 pounds, so you can do the math if that's your thing. I, however, would rather just keep to the kilos because in my entire life I have never weighed 116 of anything!

Home safe and sound now, Dearies. I'm going to chill a bit and then get this weekend started! 

PHOOEY

Mary just went into time out for the duration of my d-chair time. Unfortunately, this little mess is the entirety of my black thread stash here with me, so I'm going to have to fish through stash for more. I did notice that I'm getting really poor coverage, so I might have to switch brands and find something a little plumper than DMC.  The coverage on the blue is also kind of sketchy, but I think I can live with it. The black, though, I think I might prefer pretty solid.

If you would, please keep my podmate M in your prayers, Dearies. She has decided to end treatment and has been told if she does so she will pass very quickly. She is a dear lady and I hope she finds peace.

Only a few minutes to go, so I will close for now. Happy Friday (again)!

FRIDAY FRIDAY

I stayed up a little later than normal stitching, but I was determined. At least now the poor girl has a head!

I switched out the called-for DMC919, which I thought looked a little bit orange on my fabric. I really wanted a nice vibrant red to compliment that gorgeous blue!

Now we need to do something about her coat/cloak of invisibility! Oh! And she needs a proper magic handbag.

Indeed.

If you're in the path of anything this weekend, I wish you safety. If you're not and celebrating a long holiday weekend, I hope it's divine! And if this is just another Friday...Happy Friday!

THURSDAY THURSDAY

Ooooooooo....I'm so excited!

WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY

All hooked up and doing my thing today, Dearies:

TUESDAY TUESDAY

Progress from yesterday's d-chair session. (No stitching last night...I was just too loopy):

And my damn good mug that makes me crazy stupid happy:

Happy Tuesday, Dearies! We're off like a herd of turtles!,

MONDAY MONDAY

SUNDAY SPINSTER BLISS

I don't talk about it very much, but I fell away from the Catholic church a few years ago and have just recently started making my way back thanks to JB. Up until about a month or so ago, he went to Mass every Sunday by himself, but on July 21 (what would have been my dear dad's 87th birthday), I put on my shoes and socks and headed to the Basilica over at Notre Dame with JB betting that it would be another year before I did so.

I'm happy to report that I've managed to go every Sunday since, and despite JB not being here, I got myself up, ready, and out the door yet again today.

Instead of the Basilica, though, I went to what is technically my parish and what is the church just down the street, St. Pius X of Granger.

This is the new church, and it really is quite pretty. I believe it was dedicated in 2017, and it's part of a pretty big complex that includes the old church, a huge grade school, and a lot of space for meetings, events, and other things.

St. Pius is a huge congregation, and from what I can tell, full of very young and very large families. The church was absolutely packed today (because it just so happens to be the Solemnity of St. Pius!), and I would guess that at least 60% of the attendees were kids under the age of fifteen.

The music was beautiful and the sermon was great, but I confess I do like the Basilica a little better. It feels more like home.

I treated myself to McDonalds breakfast and then came home to read the paper, futz about at my desk with bills and paperwork, and then I had a proper planning session in my Erin Condren. I haven't done that in several months, so it felt great to get back into the weekly format and play with stickers again!

The kitchen is clean and soon I'll begin cooking a lovely dinner for myself of steak and veg kabobs with roasted potatoes. I've been looking forward to it for a few weeks now, so hopefully it will hit the spot.

On the stitchy front, I am playing with Mary Poppins:

I'm trying to outline all of the large solidly stitched areas here at home because of the fussy counting, so filling in should be a breeze in the d-chair! I wish I would have thought of that earlier, but it seems like these revelations are slow to hit my tiny little brain sometimes!

So that's the Sunday report for me, Dearies! I hope your very own Sunday has been as happy and blissful as mine has. We're off like a herd of turtles into a new week...what's on your agenda for it?

BACK IN THE SADDLE!

What a perfectly delightful Saturday afternoon! The very first thing I did was reverse the damn recliner and the Happy Chair:

Then I played with all of my baskets and came up with a pile of things to concentrate on in September:

SATURDAY SPINSTER BLISS AND STITCHY PROGRESS REPORT

OPERATION GO UPDATE

STARTING WEIGHT: 266
LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT: 260.7

CURRENT WEIGHT: 258.7

WEIGHT LOST THIS WEEK: 2

FIRST GOAL: 252

GOAL WEIGHT TO GET A NEW KIDNEY: 242

ULTIMATE LIFETIME GOAL: 160

IN WHICH I BREAK RULES AND START MY WEEKEND

I have a lot of rules for myself...most of which I ignore on a daily basis. For example, I don't ALWAYS Clinique three-step twice a day, and sometimes I only brush my teeth for a minute and change rather than the full two I'm supposed to.

But one rule that I have NEVER broken (until today) is to NEVER look at, use, or otherwise engage with my phone while driving. NEVER. EVER. PERIOD. FULL STOP. END OF SPINSTER STORY.

But how could I resist that sky? And those ginormous white puffy happy perfect clouds?

I should have waited, I know, and I promise to never let it happen again, but how could a Friday afternoon get any better than with a view like this:

LET THE SPINSTER GAMES BEGIN!

JB is on his way to NJ, so I have ten days of spinstering ahead of me to look forward to! Today's agenda is relatively simple...d-chair, Starbucks, and then home to rest.

I'm hoping that the entire weekend will be spent surrounded by stitching. Considering the date, I am starting to feel a pull toward autumnal stitching. Maybe I'll just pull out a basket or two and spread things all over the floor and play!

(But I promise not to empty the entire contents of the studio into the living room like I did before. That was just about the dumbest/smartest thing I've ever done.)

I did a huge grocery shop after Dr. Melfi yesterday and stocked up on smoothie and salad supplies, so it shouldn't be a problem staying on the Operation Go wagon. I did pick up items for steak and chicken kabobs, but if I'm careful with portions they will be a very nice treat! My old habit of having Chinese takeaway while JB is gone will have to be put on hold. Too much sodium and too many calories, I'm afraid. Maybe next time!

Well, I better get scooching. Need to get the second cup of damn good in me before hitting the shower!

Happy Fruday, Dearies! I hope your weekend plans include fun and frolic. Do something wonderful and come tell me all about it!

WHAT IS IT WITH ME AND GIRAFFES?

NOPE...STILL SINGLE!

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR MIND?

Thank you for the responses to my Oreo query. I forgot about so many flavors...like mint! Now if I can only resist buying and eating said Oreos, we'll be in business!

Operation GO is still going well. I am putting on minimal fluid in between treatments and have gotten right back on the smoothie/salad plan. 252 and 240 are going to be here before I know it!

In the d-chair getting ready to stitch a bit. My evening stitching has really fallen off, but I hope to remedy that this weekend and next week because JB is going back to see his mom for a bit and I can revert to my single spinster behavior.

Happy Futzingday, Dearies! Come tell me what your single spinster behavior is...you know we all have it!

OPINIONS, PLEASE

I just saw a thingie on the Facebook about Tang (orange drink mix that the astronauts drank) flavored Oreos. This got me thinking...

What are acceptable flavors for the middle of an Oreo?

I vote for vanilla, chocolate, coffee, marshmallow, and peanut butter.

How about you?

OW OW OW OW OW

There isn't a part of me that isn't sore today, but I am still a bit aglow over my frenzy yesterday. The joint is clean, I'm back on track, and now I can rest a bit before the next adventure begins.

My little pile of newspapers and mail is growing, so I think I better settle in with it before doing anything else:

I haven't looked at the paper since Friday (yikes), so I better get crackin'!

D-chair time went relatively well today and I did finish the next little area of Plum Pudding:

I finally feel like I have hit the sweet spot when it comes to a full kit. If I have a chart, fabric, threads, q-snaps, scissors, needles, needleminder, Bitsy Bob, retractable highlighter, project bag with matching grime guard, and a floss container I feel like I could conquer the world.

Gee, it only took sixteen years to figure that out!

As soon as I finish this post-d cup of damn good I'm going to jump back into the fray. For now, though, I think I'll savor the quiet and go Instagramming.

Happy Monday, Dearies! Do something savory and come tell me all about it!

WAIT....WHAAAAAHT???

JB and I went to Mass, ran a few quick errands, and came home (I think I already told you that, but oh well). One of the errands we did was a pass through the McDonald's for breakfast.

This is were I hang my head in shame and confess that I ordered a steak, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich.

I love those sandwiches. I always have. As a matter of fact, there are some days when I have considered picking up a full sack of them and eating them all at one go to make myself sick. This is the same aversion therapy technique (in reverse, I think) that I used at the Krispy Kreme to get me through the store-opening obsession.

(It worked, too. Ask me how many Krispy Kreme donuts I've had since that momentous Saturday in which I ate THREE DOZEN of them and promptly threw up four dozen.)

But I digress.

When we stopped at the Martin's, I also picked up a cranberry orange muffin from the gd can't miss it let's put this right smack dab in the middle of where you have to walk muffin cart.

Again with the shame.

So I ate both, all the while hating myself for being so weak and ruining all if the hard work I've been doing and I did a solid fifteen minutes of berating myself in the mirror for being so undisciplined.

JB went out to do his thing on the balcony and I decided to unload the dishwasher and throw a load if towels in.

Pause for you to eyeroll and guess what happens next.

I. Cleaned. Like. A. Very. Angry. Amish. Woman.

For two hours!

I slumped into the damn recliner a few minutes ago and remembered that I hadn't yet logged my breakfast. So I hopped on my app thingie (I think it's called LoseIt) and entered my slug of cranberry juice, my two cups of damn good, the monster bagel sandwich AND the gd cranberry orange muffin.

Drat. Over eight hundred calories.

That's what I have been eating for an ENTIRE DAY!

So I resolved to have nothing else for the rest of the day, cursed my bad choices one more time, and then folded a load of towels.

In the middle of a washcloth, I tilted my head to the side like a labradoodle and thought "Gee. I wonder if all that housecleaning counts as exercise?"

You bet your big fat sweet bippie it does! ALMOST 600 calorie's worth!

I have never been so freakin glad to have cleaned my apartment as I was when I realized I could eat more than water for dinner tonight.

I won't go crazy, I promise. A sensible salad and a bite or two of the sausage, peppers, onions, and potatoes I made for JB...but I didn't completely ruin Operation GO!!!

Tomorrow will see me back on the smoothie/salad wagon, but it sure is nice to know that I CAN have a nice little treat every now and then as long as I go to town with some activity.

Happy Sunday, Dearies!  Have something wonderful to eat and come tell me all about it!

IN WHICH WE PAUSE TO PONDER

I'm participating in the #commonthreadedstitcher challenge over on the Instagram, and today's theme was "Most complex/complicated finish".

Most of the participants are cross stitchers and are showing fully finished objects that they have completed, but as we all know, fully finishing objects is just not my forte'.

(Remember the tragic glue gun incident of 2008 and the weeks and weeks in which I was grounded from my studio and anything remotely related to finishing? Stewey bitched about the glitter and debris in the rug (and in my hair, his hair, on the happy chair, and everywhere else) for months.)

So my share was Tony Minieri's Stars for the Millennium, because in the sixteen years or so that I've been stitching I have never been more absorbed by or proud of or moved by something I've stitched.

I stitched my version of Stars in 2011 during the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. I knew I wanted and needed a piece that would help me remember and reflect, and what ended up happening was I found a piece that helped me pray.

Each block was more intense than the next with dozens of intricate composite stitches, but as I completed them, I felt my mind clear and my heart open up and my dialogue in my head became more about others than the usual stuff about myself. I thought about those lost, those saved, those who rose, and those who fell. I remembered both the horror and the pride, as well as the feeling of being so incredibly vulnerable, but thoroughly brave at the same time. When the last stitch was taken, I felt calmer and more peaceful than I had in a long time...like I had walked through something that reminded me of both my capabilities as well as my weaknesses.

I sat with this piece for a few minutes this morning after the hustle and bustle of getting to Mass in time, grabbing a few groceries on the way hone, and getting the laundry started. I took a minute to really look at it...to examine almost each and every stitch and thread and color, and to give myself a little pat for good work.  Given the amount of self-flagellation that normally goes on in my tiny little brain, it was nice to feel a bit of confidence and hear an "Atta' girl!" escape through slurps of damn good.

Do yourselves a favor, Dearies. Go grab your very own Stars and give it a good look-see. No negatives allowed...just bask for a few minutes in the wonderfulness of whatever it is that you created...whether it's a stitchy piece, or knitting, or coloring, or diamond painting, or pottery, or watercolor, or a fly fishing lure, or a chocolate cake, or a jigsaw puzzle....anything that cane from the work of your very own hands.

You did that. You put that into this big beautiful world of ours. You.

Enjoy that feeling, my friends! I know I will for just a few more minutes before the day takes me where it will.

Happy Sunday!

OPERATION GO...WEEKLY UPDATE

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT: 262.7

CURRENT WEIGHT: 260.7

WEIGHT LOST THIS WEEK: 2

FIRST GOAL: 252

GOAL WEIGHT TO GET A NEW KIDNEY: 242

ULTIMATE LIFETIME GOAL: 160

DEAR SWEET MOTHER OF GOD, THEY FINALLY GOT IT RIGHT

Every year the University of Notre Dame, along with their uniform provider UnderPants, designs a special uniform for one of the special games, and every year on this here blog my special little spinster head explodes.

We've had the Stay-Puft Marshmallow men with gold lame helmets:

We've had the "architecturally significant" resemblance to nothing whatsoever to do with anything on campus:

Shower mold:

And the New York Yankees:

This year? Well, thanks to some kind of magic alignment of the stars, they have FINALLY gotten the damn things right. This year, Notre Dame and UnderPants will pay tribute to the 1988 National Championship team.

MY 1988 National Championship. MY friends. MY family. MY classmates who went out there and won it all for the Gipper...right there in front of God, Yours Truly, and everybody.

Finally.

A Notre Dame/UnderPants special uniform that THIS special spinster can get behind:

IN WHICH WE HAVE A DELIGHTFUL THURSDAY

Chello, Dearies.

I am home and in the damn recliner with a nice cold lemonade of the Crystal Light variety. I had hoped to be sploshing, but alas, the pool is in some kind of chemical time out, so the pool fix-it company has been called in to do their thing. No aqua therapy for me today.

This morning found me running to and fro to appointments and such, so I'm a little pooped. If everything goes according to plan, I'm going to get a few hours of stitching time in before bed, and then we'll be that much closer to the weekend.

I do, however, have a Happy Chair update. I have decided once and for all to keep him and have him recovered. Period. Full stop. End of story. The nice lady from the furniture company was here yesterday afternoon, and she agreed that with a little love, fluff, and TLC, he will be better than new and ready for another 28 years of spinster life. (Just wait 'till you see the fabric I selected! I'll let it be a surprise, but suffice it to say, it's...whimsical!)

I hope your very own Thursday is swell! Come tell me all about life in your corner of the world!

PLUM PUDDING UPDATE

CHELLO

I'm home from the procedure, Dearies, and all is well. Buzzy needed a little roto-rootering, but he should be good for another six months or so. I'm going to have a couple of cups of damn good, read the paper, and have a rest-y relax-y kind of day.