Dearies, I am going dark for a few days. I just got my covid booster, and if the first two times are any indication, I plan on looking at nothing but the inside of my eyelids for a few days while sucking down copious fluids and Tylenol.

I am also knee-deep in preparing all of the auction shipments. This is a much larger task than you would imagine, but I am determined to do it well and with great care. If you are an auction winner and have already sent your mailing address, I thank you and beg for your patience. If you have not yet sent your info, please do so at your earliest convenience.

My Jersey Boy is safely in New Jersey for a few weeks visiting his mom, so I will have lots of time to do all of my Spinster things. My list this time is quite long, and begins with a thorough re-org of the cube room studio:

Can you believe I let it get that messy again? I swear, my stash spontaneously multiplies in there without my supervision. 

There will be plenty of stitching. As a matter of fact, I am plugging away on Pretty Pumpkins while watching The Chair on the Netflix. I am enjoying both immensely!

Finally, please stay tuned for the next bit of kidney fund fun. I have decided to do a raffle for the items donated by my sister. You can buy tickets and indicate which thing you would like (as many or as few as you wish), and I will draw winners from Stewey's treat jar/now JB's treat jar. That way, everybody who wants to play gets a chance.

Speaking of my sister....in the month of October she is donating the proceeds of her etsy shop to my kidney fund for those orders received from you. I will give you more details later, but I think this will be a wonderful way for you to shop her pretty things and help me at the same time! (I still can't wrap my brain around the generosity of this community, and I am so very grateful for it every single day!)

So that's it for me for a bit. I apologize for all of the crazy spam comments that have popped up, but I am, for some reason, unable to delete them in the blogger thingie. 

Stupid spam.

Happy Friday, happy weekend, happy everything to one and all! Do something wonderful for yourself and come tell me all about it!

HAPPY NATIONAL DOG DAY

I imagine that Stewey has settled in quite nicely in the Great Beyond, and is waiting patiently for me to arrive (provided I get my act together, go back to Mass, and say a few more rosaries). 

To bide his time, I'm sure he has collected quite a few new friends and Bridge partners:

Patrice caught Stewey's eye when she politely refused the ham selection at the Ladies Who Lunch buffet because it wasn't Wilson Virginia ham, sliced precisely thin enough to read the Style section of the New York Times through without spectacles.

And then there's Louise, who reminds him if his beloved Aunt Chrissy...always ready for an adventure, but sensibly dressed and elegantly accessorized:

It's not all tea cakes and Prosecco-sipping there, I'm sure. SOMETHING has to aggravate him regularly to hone his sharp little wit. Meet Darryl and his other brother Darryl:

Oh, Stewey. How I miss you so! Happy National Dog Day, Little. Mommie Dearest loves you very much!

ATTN: AUCTION WINNERS

 I'm trying not to make a complete hash of this...I really am.

If you are an auction winner listed below, will you kindly send me an email with all of your information (name and shipping address) as well as your preferred method of donation (PayPal or check)?

My email address is: spinsterstitcher@aol.com

If paying via PayPal: spinsterstitcher@aol.com

If paying via check: Coni J Rich, 244 Toscana Blvd, Granger IN, 46530

Thank you!

#1 rose/Roz

#2 Khristine Doiron

#3 LK Purdy

#4 Suzanne Carroll

#5 Debbie...you're all set!

#6 Aunt Chrissy...you're all set!

#7 Ann70821

#8 Patti

#9 Penny

#10 Ann70821

#11 Cindy Yoakum

#12 Susan

#13 Janell

#14 Debbie...you're all set!

#15 Ruth...you're all set!

#16 Katken

#17 Ellen

#18 Debbie...you're all set!

#19 MaryO

#20 Ann70821

#21 Suzanne Carroll

TEAM MEETING...

Dear Spinster Nation,

I am faced with an enormous dilemma, and am looking for your input/guidance.

As you all know, I have been the recipient of ENORMOUS generosity from this family community. Asking you to contribute your hard-earned money to my kidney transplant fund literally makes me sick to my stomach, but I know that I need to get my humiliation in check and realize that covering my costs of the transplant is critical and a necessary part of the preparation for it.

My sister, Aunt Chrissy, has lovingly donated items from her etsy shop (Siggy's Closet) for me to sell to raise additional funds. The sets are comprised of a magnetic needle minder, a floss ring/key tag, and a beaded scissor fob.

I have five sets that look like this:

Five sets that look like this:

And ten of these pumpkin needle minder/magnets:

How the heck do I offer these to you, considering the limited number that I have available? 

In addition to these items, I also have a t-shirt coming that will have these imprints (one front, one back):

(Each year during football season, Notre Dame does a series of features called "What are you fighting for?" to highlight the work that ND students, faculty, and staff do to combat a global problem. I am shamelessly co-opting the slogan for my personal problem.) 😬

The pricing issues are being penciled as I type this, but it looks like the shirt will have to sell in the $40 range to make it work. Is this completely ridiculous?

I am also assembling baskets of stash that I hope to auction, but as I do this, I am concerned that I might be completely overwhelming and turning off my family gathered herein by this incessant fundraising.

Yup....I'm completely twisted all up in my head, and I just want to go lie down under a rock until the feeling passes and I can go back to this here blog being a record of my hapless antics and memories of Stewey. 

Thoughts?

DEAR FRIENDS

Well.

It has been quite an emotional few days for Yours Truly.

When I posted the auction, I hoped that a piece or two might strike someone's fancy, and my transplant fund would be the recipient of a few dollars to help it recover from The Transplant That Wasn't Quite A Transplant.

As usual, The Spinster Nation knocks me on my heiney with its love, support, and generosity.

Thank. You.

I could wrack my brain for the rest of my life and still never come up with words that are adequate to express my gratitude for having you in my life.

SPINSTER STITCHER KIDNEY FUND AUCTION ....CLOSED! THANK YOU!

EDITED ON WEDNESDAY MORNING....PLEASE NOTE

Dearies, as usual, I can't get out of my own way. I had a feeling that showing multiple pieces in a preview might have been a bad idea, so let's just let our chin hairs down and GO A BIT CRAZY, shall we?

THIS AUCTION IS FOR ALL OF THE PIECES SHOWN BELOW. I HAVE PUT NUMBERS NEXT TO ALL OF THEM, SO WHEN YOU BID, PLEASE INDICATE THE NUMBER OF THE PIECE YOU'RE BIDDING ON!

I'm afraid this might make it a bit more difficult for you to follow, but I'll try to edit out the comments each day to leave the highest one for each piece so you know where to go. Make sense?

In light of this expansion, I'll leave the auction open until SUNDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 22nd at 10pm EST. 

HERE WE GO!

*All proceeds will be deposited into my kidney transplant fund to offset the out of pocket costs of an eventual kidney transplant.

*To bid, simply indicate the number of the piece you want and the amount you want to bid in the comment section.

* If you are anonymous, please state your name before your bid. (For example: Betty bids $1,000,000,00 on #4 😬).

*When the auction closes on Sunday, I will contact the highest bidder for payment and shipping information. 

*Payments may be made via PayPal to spinsterstitcher@aol.com or via check to: Coni J Rich, 244 Toscana Blvd, Granger IN, 46530.

*I will cover the cost of shipping to anywhere in the world.

There just aren't enough words to thank you for participating, Dearies! You have been so very generous and wonderful from the very beginning of this journey with me. Thank you!

#1 - winning bid $150

This piece is matted and framed (not professionally...by me) and measures 15inches wide by 18inches high.

All of the following pieces are not framed:

#2 - winning bid $95

#3 - winning bid $250

#4 - winning bid $150

#5 - winning bid $300

#6 - winning bid $150

#7 - winning bid $100

#8 - winning bid $100

#9 - winning bid $100

#10 - winning bid $100

#11 - winning bid $60

#12 - winning bid $175

#13 - winning bid $30

#14 - winning bid $400

#15 - winning bid $55

#16 - winning bid $200

#17 - winning bid $250

#18 - winning bid $350

#19 - winning bid $125

#20 - winning bid $100

#21 - winning  bid $100

TUESDAY

 

Good morning, Dearies!

Here we are on a Hoosierville Tuesday morning...slurping our damn good and easing into the day. I'd love to tell you that I've been up and at 'em and am planning a productive day, but...nope...still a bit fuzzy-headed and easing into it sloooooowly.

No matter. It is, after all, a day off to be enjoyed, and enjoy it I shall.

My sister-friend Denise is busy preparing a fundraiser t-shirt for me to post that I think you're really going to like, my sissy-sister Aunt Chrissy has lovingly made and donated sets of stitchy things from her shop for me to auction, and I am still working my way through my FUPPIE box for items that I've stitched but not framed/finished for you to bid on also. So it looks like I'll get that kidney fund re-built in short order!

On the stitchy front, I am still completely delighted with the pretty pumpkins and hoped to spend a good amount of time playing with her this afternoon. It might be 80 degrees outside, but inside we're jonesing for 50 degrees with a crisp, fresh breeze and fuzzy sweatshirts and flannel pajama pants and all things Fall.

So that's all the news from your hapless yet well-intentioned SpinsterStitcher today. What's new with you?

SUNDAY

Where I started:

Where I ended:

 

HAPPY SATURDAY

First we played the golfing...

And then we saw a peregrine falcon in a tree...

And then we floated in the pool for a bit...

And then I finished Sara's gift...

And then I painted my nails...

And then I fished through my WiP stash and pulled my next project...

Now it's time for dinner, and I either need to start cooking or ordering! Here's hoping that you had a lovely day, Dearies! Come tell me all about it!

 

ALMOST THERE

I'm going to add some green to this tonight, and then it will be off to find a frame and get this wrapped up for my Sara. Just in time...we go to Lima for her shower next weekend!

Buzzy and I are doing our thing here in Hoosierville on a Friday morning. The weekend is upon us, Dearies, and methinks it's going to be a good one!

IN WHICH WE ARE A BIG PILE OF TEARY MOOOOOSH

 

Tell me I'm not the only portly spinster who bawled like a baby when Kevin Costner, the Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees walked out of the corn onto the Field of Dreams?!

YOOOO HOOOO, HEIDY HO, AND GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS!

Good morning, Dearies!

Another good night's sleep has me ready and raring to go today. I'm still a bit tired and probably about 90% recovered from my adventure, but mentally still in a very good place.

Today's agenda is pretty simple. I see Dr Melfi at 1:00, and the rest of my day is dedicated to playing with Sara's gift. Here's my progress:

The chart calls for the lines in the ampersand (&) to be filled in, but I am considering leaving it as is, because I kinda' like it! We'll see how I feel after everything else is filled in, but for now I'm pretty chuffed.

My poor peace lily is in intensive care and I'm tending to her as best as I can, so happy thoughts are appreciated!

Happy Thursday to one and all! I hope you are happy and safe and cool and well today and that you'll come tell me all about it!

WELCOME TO CONI ISLAND...WHERE THE RIDES ARE FREE AND THE WEATHER IS FINE

Good morning from the d-chair, Dearies!

Bit of a stormy commute today, but I am all hooked up and ready to go...armed with HGTV on the TeeVee thingie and a few day's worth of newspapers to catch up on.

Yesterday was a recovery day, for sure. Most of the meds started to wear off at about 10 in the morning and I went to the big girl sleigh bed for a nice loooong snooze. I suspect that steroids and adrenaline were the only thing that had me upright from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday morning, but no worries....my mental state is still oddly great.

You are probably the only ones who will understand this, but I have not felt this calm, happy, and peaceful in about 20 years. The freak show in my head packed up and left town sometime Sunday night and has not made an appearance since. I feel amazingly like my old self again....clear eyed, organized, hopeful, and in charge of my emotional state.

In other words...bliss.

(Or probably just prednisone-induced euphoria.)

It doesn't take a team of priests or psychiatrists to explain this...the last many years of my life have been so completely beyond my control that I spun myself into a hot mess trying to figure out what big thing was going to fall on my head next. I felt like I was Helen Hunt dodging cows in a tornado, but my cows were things like losing a house, losing Stewey, waiting for a kidney...everything really, and all the while trying to figure out how I could stop wallowing and pay more attention to all of the incredible blessings of my life.

And then, just when I thought I had a handle on it, a new twist would come along and remind me just how utterly insignificant my ability is to control what's coming.

It took an awfully long time for me to figure this out, but once I realized just how little control I have over things, and how doubt and fear and wanting to be in charge of the timing of everything is really just my big fat ego run amok...it kinda all started to make sense to me.

Surrender is a wonderful thing, I guess, once you realize that you can only do so much. I am compliant, following directions, and trying to be careful, but the date and time of when I will get a new life is just. not. up. to. me.

If my dear dad were here, he would tell me that if I had paid attention in college and actually read all of those Great Books, I would have known that this is the very essence of Faith, and I could have been happy and free of the freak show a long time ago. Now I'm starting to understand why he was able to navigate the world the way he did...he knew that he had a responsibility to be a good, decent, kind, helpful, productive person and that he was going to make mistakes along the way, but there was no such thing as bending the world to his will. He relied on his Faith to get him through and not his ego.

(Whoops...sorry. Went on a little 'round the bend there.)

So I've had my kidney transplant practice round, and now know all of the things to expect and what works and what doesn't. How many people can say that?

(And yes...in case you're wondering...I am writing all of this down and am going to put it into a book that will help other transplant patients know what to expect. It won't be medical advice, but rather mundane things like what to put in your hospital go-bag and simple checklists to use when you get THE CALL.)

My gosh! You give me one kidney/no kidney almost transplant and I go philosophical and start writing long blathery blog posts and have probably lost you already!

So we'll change the channel to stitching.

I have Sara's gift about 80% complete! I finished the big "&" last night and started on the Mr and Mrs. I need to chart out the kids' initials and date and add that, and then it will be finished and ready to frame just in time for the shower on the 22nd.

Tomorrow, I am hoping to get some things organized for the auctions, Fall stitching, and some things I need to ship off hither and yon, and I'm also going to try to journal my wips.

(Stay tuned...that should be quite interesting!)

So, Dearies, that's all the news from here. I am physically feeling much better and slowly getting over this cold/flu thing, and mentally/emotionally feeling like the old old old me. 

I hope this finds you happy and safe and having fun! Come tell me all about it!