A FINISH AND A START...AND A LITTLE BIT OF PROGRESS

First a finish:

And a new start (yes...she's a BIG girl):

And a tiny bit of progress on Blooming Bunny:

(Note to self...start with the head next time. Otherwise, poor BB looks like the chocolate bunnies from when I was a kid and always started by biting off their poor little heads! 😲)

Quiet day today, Dearies.  I hope you are all well and safe and happy...come tell me all about it!

MEANWHILE...ON EASTER NIGHT

 

 

TUESDAY

Thank you for all of the lovey birthday wishes, Dearies! I'm happy to report that I turned 59 with dignity and very little fanfare. There were surprise gifts of flowers and beautiful cards, as well as a re-stock of my berries and pineapple for my morning cottage cheese/fruit plate.

I don't know if I feel any older, but I do know that I have a very long list of things I'd like to do in the next year to get me ready for 60. Nothing too radical, mind you. Probably a lot of the same, but maybe with a little more enthusiasm.

I bought a few little things for myself on the amazon, but nothing too crazy. The highlight of the package was a new Yankee Candle, but in the spirit of keeping me slightly off-center, it arrived with a bit of an attitude problem.

Never fear...one call to the customer service, and a new one is on its way to me.

Last night, I did manage to finish the Stained Glass Bunny diamond painting. If I get things done around here in the next few days I might try to find a simple little frame for him so I can prop him on the table and call it Easter.

Today will be dedicated to stitching, and I hope to make more progress on the Blooming Bunny.

 That's all I have for now. I thank you again for thinking of me yesterday! I am so grateful to be part of this thing of ours! WooHoo!

 

ZEE BIRD...SHE EESE LONELEEE

I just spent a lovely few minutes in the cube room studio kitting up the Blooming Bunny companion to the Spring Songbird that I finished yesterday. Same deal...stitching this on 28ct Colour & Cotton lugana in Granny Smith, and all Colour & Cotton threads substituted for DMC (*).

And because I just can't leave well enough alone when it comes to bunnies...I'm almost finished with a cute little stained glass version (diamond painting) that I might just pop into a frame for a seasonal decoration this year.

Finally, my salad from last night. Mixed greens and veg with a grilled chicken breast on top, lots of black pepper and everything bagel seasoning with bleu cheese dressing because the chicken was flavored with buffalo marinade.

We're looking forward to the weekend, Dearies! My Lovies from Lima are coming over for the NotreDame Blue Gold Game (football Spring scrimmage), and then there's Palm Sunday Mass, brunch at Tippecanoe Place (the Studebaker Mansion), and then on Monday I turn the big bad 59 years of age...no longer allowed to act like a toddler, but not old enough to be the boss of everything.

Happy Thursday! Come tell me all about your little corner of the world!

(*) It's only taken me nineteen years, but I finally found a way to pick threads. I use my DMC color chart and find the designated color that is called for, and then I pick through my threads to find ones that are generally close to it. Sometimes I get right on the mark, and other times I go rogue...all depends on my choice of fabric.
 

ZEE BIRD...SHE EEESE FEENIE!

 

DIAMOND PAINTING, STITCHING, AND PILLOW FIGHTING....OH MY!

 

As I live and breathe, Dearies....if you would have told me that one day I would watch the Professional Pillow Fighting Championship on the TeeVee while stitching and then diamond painting, I would have told you that you were nuts.

Progress continues on the Spring Songbird, and I hope to complete him in the next day or so. Such a delightful stitch, and I might have accidentally picked up the coordinating bunny pattern as well to start once the bird takes flight. 😬

The diamond painting was another amazon impulse purchase....this one was about four bucks, I think, but the end result and the hours of peace it gave me go well beyond that.  As with stitching, I enjoy the process of creating these rather than stress over a final finish, so I'll just pop this into a portfolio with all of the other ones I've finished and move on to the next.

Early morning appointment for me today, so I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the day with needle and thread!

Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a roaring start!

 

I LOVE IT WHEN A LESSON COMES OUT OF IT

One of the things I've learned during this little for-ay into diamond painting is PREPARATION IS KEY. 

I watched a lot of the YouTube when I started doing DP, and two terms I learned were "kit up" and "kit down". (Or words similar to that effect.)  It means exactly what you'd think...before playing with a new piece, you have to take the time to organize all of the parts so that you have them readily at hand.

In DP,  you need to un-bag all of the little bits and label the colors so that you can easily select the one you need at the right time.

I've translated this into my stitchy life, and I find that it's yielding great results. By taking the time to set up my threads, I can enjoying stitching more by just selecting the one that I need. My Bitsy Bob (the thingie you see in the bottom pic with the threads in circles on it), makes things super organized and tidy.

I like that.

So, Dearies...I'm ready to start stitching for the day, and after dinner (a salad with grilled salmon on top), I'm going to see if I can finish my DP.

Happy Weekend! Do something that blows your skirt up and come tell me all about it!

GOODNESS, GRACIOUS!

We've had an interesting few days, Dearies!  Sunday brought us massive storms with devastating winds and quite a bit of destruction.  I can honestly say that there was a moment there when I honestly thought we were gonners.

The lights were out for about four hours, but like any good stitcher, I was prepared.

I think I've confused everybody with all of this diamond painting business. Imagine a cross stitch chart printed on a canvas and then covered in a light layer of stickyness.

And the symbols correspond to different colored "drills", or little pieces of acrylic (either round or square) that you attach to the canvas with a pointy-ended pen that you've put a little bit of putty or wax or sticky dots on to hold them.

Believe it or not, oftentimes the color numbers of the drills are actual DMC numbers, so there is something that feels very familiar about this!

The thing I'm enjoying about diamond painting is that a) it's something new and different and b) so far I've managed to just keep things very very simple, uncomplicated, and affordable. I figured out a very good system and have stuck with it, haven't gone crazy amassing a huge stash, and the time I spend doing this new craft has been stress free!

 On the stitching front, I am just LOVING this little bird. The chart is in the etsy: nathnolu. Please note, though that I am not following the colorway on the chart...I am using Colour & Cotton fabric and threads from my stash.

 

Dearies, I have a kinda sorta update on my ick-ness. It appears that the thyroid was causing all of those scary symptoms that kept sending me to the ER thinking I was dying. As for everything else, my liver, pancreas, and gall bladder all seem to be on the fritz. Oddly enough, I scored an S0 on the liver fatty scale, but an F3 on the liver scarring (cirrhosis) scale, which is severe. The gallbladder needs to come out, but if we can get the symptoms under control, postponing that would be preferable to undergoing surgery at this point, and the pancreas is problematic and susceptible to pancreatitis because of my kidney meds. 

BUT!

With proper meds and a massive lifestyle change (in effect since March 5), I should be able to get things a bit back in whack to the point that I will start to feel better. Fatigue and the screaming mimi's are the biggest issues I have, as well as protecting my BellyBean, but eventually all will be well once again.

Thank you for your prayers and notes and happy thoughts and wonderful cards in the mail (looking at you Robin!). Time for me to just pull up my socks and trust that the plan is good and I finally have docs in place to keep an eye on things.

If you're in the path of these darn storms again today (as we are), please don't be afraid, but stay safe and prepared! Then, when they're all over, please check in and come tell us all about your corner of the world today!

BIRD BRAIN

 

WEEKEND PLAN

 

IT WAS A GOOD FRIDAY

First I had a lovely salad with grilled salmon:

And then I finished my next diamond painting:

 

CUE THE MUSIC...WE'RE HALFWAY THERE!

 

IN WHICH WE HAVE A LOVELY SUNDAY, INDEED

 

My Lady Irish are doing their thing against Michigan, I had a great scrubby shower and donned my comfy sweats, and now it's time to stitch! Rich will be home after the game for steak pizza iola (salad with grilled chicken for me, Betty), and that will be that.

What are you up to today, Dearies? Come tell me all about it!

IF THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT SHOWS UP...IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, DEARIES

OK, you actually ARE the boss of me.

Today, I am lounging in my pajamas under the blanket, with stitching, damn good, my book, and diamond painting near and Robert DeNiro on the TV for company.

I have a clean sink and a nicely loaded dishwasher, the trash has been duly collected and placed in the can to put outside tonight, and I have prepped my veggies for my salad tonight and put them in their little fancy storage containers that I bought in a frenzy three years ago and then immediately regretted the purchase, but that's as far as I got.

The floor and countertops and Kitchen Cart 'O Crap That Needs Purging and everything else that needs doing will just have to wait for another day, because my better angels (looking at you, kids) told me to stop my nonsense already and just...rest.

Thank you for your excellent advice and care and concern and for the proverbial whack upside my head to get me re-pointed in the right direction! It's very helpful, when you are a Spinster of a very tiny little brain, to have fully-adult supervision to rely on!

What are you up to today? We're cold and blustery here, with more of the same predicted for the next ten days, so I guess we'll just have to hope for a warmer April! 

That's the report. Do come tell me all about your corner of the world today, and if you're in the path of these terrible storms or have been affected by them, you have my fervent thoughts and prayers that you are safe and well.

OH FOR PITY'S SAKES...

Dearies, this is, quite possibly, the dumbest day I've had since Stewey convinced me to try landscaping around the back patio and I dug a four-foot deep moat that my sister swore was going to end up being where she dumped my body when the time came.

I am a) not feeling well and b) a hot crock pot full of stress while waiting for test and lab results, so I decided that today would be a good day to deep clean the bathroom to within an inch of its life.

What. A. Stupid. Idea.

Part of me not feeling well is that I don't have any strength or stamina. By that, I mean that standing, walking, moving, etc is exhausting, and it seems that the amount of energy it takes to shower is about all I've got for a day.

But did I listen to my inner voice that said "Dumbass. Cleaning that bathroom is going to kill you. Take your shower. Get another cup of damn good, and get in the chair with your blanket and stitching and behave yourself."?

Nope.

Here's how the last several hours of my day have gone: Clean. Pant. Sweat. Sit. Breathe hard. Curse. Clean. Pant. Sweat. Sit. Breathe hard. Curse. Cry. Clean. Pant. Sweat. Sit. Breathe hard. Curse. Cry. Slurp cold brew. Clean. Pant. Sweat. Fall down. Cry. Crawl. Curse. Apologize to the BG. Pray. Clean. Sweat. Almost black out from chemical fumes. Give up. Guzzle water. Shower sitting down.

So now that that's all over and out of my system, I'm going to eat my salad and go to bed.

Tomorrow....the kitchen!

EASY LIKE A TUESDAY MORNING...

Rich is over on campus doing his thing this week with the ushering, so I have lots of time to do my spinstering with pajamas on and the birds sweetly tweeting their little heads off out there in the semi-cloudy sunshine. It's supposed to be near 70 degrees today, but in the 30's again by week's end, so I'm not too frantic about flipping my closet to warm weather clothes just yet.

My routine is on the verge of becoming a rut, but for now it's what I need to do. Things are still running amok, so I am using every ounce of patience I have to behave and wait for THE PLAN. 

(Sometimes I think that THE PLAN is stuck in a far-flung Department of Wellness and Sanity somewhere, and we're waiting for an intern to find it under his/her desk before running it to the Highly Grandly Exhaulted Poobah of All Things Medically Solvable, but in the meantime...here we are.)

(But to answer your question...no, my parents were not brother and sister. I was, however, hatched in a toxic waste dump of petro-chemical contamination, also known as what used to be the fifth largest oil refinery in the country, and my family history IS the history of heart disease and colon/esophageal cancer...so I've got THAT going for me.)

But I regress...

I have update photos to share, but for some reason cannot upload them here today. Bear with me while I go in search of a solution.

Happy Tuesday in March, Dearies! I hope you are happy and safe and well and doing all the things that blow your skirt right up today. Come tell me all about it!

Later...finally figured out how to add my progress pics:

FINALLY, AN ANSWER!

 

TWO DOWN...ONE TO GO

Two tests completed today, so I'm home and enjoying some beautifully fresh air and sunshine while contemplating my ToDo list for the day.

Ready?

Eat. Stitch. Futz.

That's it.

What's on your lists, Dearies? Come tell me all about it!

(Laura J Perin posted this on the Facebook, and I just couldn't pass up a chance to re-post it. Isn't it fabulous?! Thanks, Laura!)

AND THEN IT WAS MONDAY...AGAIN

 

I've been spinstering while Rich visits his mom in NJ, and as much as I'd love to tell you that I've been busily crossing things off of my ToDo list...um...not so much.

Laundry is sploshing away, and I did manage to get the big girl sleigh bed changed yesterday, but all of the other stuff?

Nope.

What I HAVE done, is sleep. And eat really really really super duper I can't believe it healthy and light. (*) And I've stitched and diamond painted every day, and I started a new book (Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver), and today I stood outside in the fresh air and sunshine for a full eight and a half minutes before my crazy downstairs neighbor started puffing her ciggie on her patio below while hollering into her cell phone about having Legionnaire's disease.

(Is it me, or does crazy just seem to follow me wherever I go?)

(Which reminds me of the old Dr Melfi joke..."You tell me that everyone around you is an asshat. But what do they all have in common?")

OK, so maybe I'm the one that's actually crazy and the Walter Mitty part of my brain turns everything into a cartoon fantasia of talking fish and whatever else magical things were in that movie.

Tomorrow is inspection day here in the complex, and they will come in with their paper booties and test things to make sure they work. I'm sure that some people find this a bit intrusive and a pain in the neck, but I find it...comforting. The screeching of the smoke detectors might hurt my eardrums, but knowing they work gives me one less thing to worry about.

Speaking of worry...only three tests this week. One will be a specimen sample that I have to collect here at home that under NO circumstances am I going to talk about (if you know, you know), the second is a liver scan, and the third is an endoscopy.

So, Dearies, by the time I get the results from this round, if there are no answers, then I am convinced that it's the universe's way of saying "Sorry, kid. This is it." and I'm heading over to the IU/Notre Dame Medical School and offering myself up as a test subject and to sign all of the paperwork to donate myself to them once I've gone to the big needlework shop in the sky.

(Hopefully in more than a few years!)

But...in the meantime...the sun is shining, the breeze is lovely and warmish, and the birds are tweeting sweetly. Who's happier than me?

AND THEN IT WAS SUNDAY AFTERNOON...

 

SHADES OF 1989

My goodness gracious. I haven't fretted over this many tests since my Senior year at Notre Dame.

(For the record, I was NOT a great student there, but I earned every single C and C+ my tiny little brain was able to accomplish. College was a complete disaster for Yours Truly, but I tried really really hard and despite being entirely too stupid and socially inept to be there...I'm glad I gritted it out and got that diploma that looks almost like my dad's.)

(Except his was signed by Fr Hesburgh, was for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and had all kinds of fantastic grades and wonderful collegial memories built into it.)

(Sigh.)

And because I wasn't completely done with traumatizing myself, there was the LSAT testing that I was certain would kill me.

(Again...disaster.)

But I digress.

Next week will be an adventure through my torso parts...liver, spleen, pancreas, and gall bladder. And just to make sure not one single square inch of me is not inspected thoroughly, there will also be 'oscopies all over the damn place.

We're narrowing in, Dearies. By the time this is all over, I will have an EOB (explanation of benefits) as thick as a phone book and a small army of satisfied specialists standing in the photo booth with a little sign that reads "I cured the Spinster Stitcher of all that ailed her".

Back to stitching and diamond painting. What's new with you?

HELLO MOJO!

Just when I thought my stitchy career was over...the mojo returned.  I've had a delightful few days of playing with the Sampler Game Board, and as soon as I post this here love note to you, I'm going to get back to it.

I await test results this week, and will visit with my gastroenterologist tomorrow. The pieces of the puzzle are still scattered about the table, but at least now I feel like we're going in three or four different directions instead of eleven.  

What's new in your corner of the world? Come tell me all about it!

IN WHICH THE SPINSTER STARTS TO GET TWITCHY

My stitchy life has been fraught with all kinds of boredom, dissatisfaction, and worry lately, Dearies. I plant my ample heiney in the chair every day with needle and thread in hand, but within minutes I'm exhaling loudly and sighing dramatically that whatever is in the q-snap in front of me just isn't blowing  my skirt up.

Phooey.

I think I've put one or two stitches into three dozen different projects lately in the hopes that I'll find that "aaaahhhhh factor" again and just play with a piece until it's complete.

My poor WiP bin has been rummaged more than a thrift store, and I'm about thiiiis close to putting my shoes and socks on and hitting the Toll Road for a House of Stitches splurge, but the better angels of my brain kick in and I remember that spending the rent money on silk thread is not very adult-y and I put the checkbook away.

Last night I stitched the two stitches on a WiP that I think has to be at least 20 years old...The Drawn Thread's Sampler Game Board:

After I did the two stitches, I decided to do a thread pallet instead of just chucking the whole thing back into the basket, so there is a bit of hope that this might make a return appearance this afternoon and evening.

In case you're new to the whole thread pallet concept...it's basically a quilt block design board (that you can purchase or make yourself), that you use to park your working threads. I purchased this one from Fat Quarter Shop, and I used the little bobbin labels from DMC to identify the colors. 

I've also made thread pallets....a simple process of attaching batting to a piece of mat board and then glueing fabric around the edges, and instead of DMC labels, I've also used little round stickers with the color name indicated, but you can do any method to suit your fancy.  I just find that having the threads readily available makes the stitching time that much more enjoyable.

(Another great tool is the Bitsy Bob, but Kelly is no longer making them, sadly, and most of the ones I have are already assigned to other projects.)

(But you all are crafty and brilliant, and I'm sure you have devised your own methods for keeping things tidy and efficient.)

So.

That's my story for today. I have now completed all of my medical testing and am now waiting for the follow-up appointments to tell me which direction my little CrazyTrain of Medical Wonder will head next.

In the meantime, I'm going to just behave myself and remain calm. (hahahahahaha)

What's new with you?

 

 

Just a quick update, Dearies.

Tomorrow I'm taking some crazy breath test to determine if my gut bacteria is OK or if it's gone awry like my Craft Days of yore. Then I'll get the results of the sleep study (with Rich in tow so that I can firmly but politely say "I just want the results of the test and nothing else, please"), then pick up five new prescriptions, throw two away, get thyroid labs done again (because my last TSH was 11.8 😖),  and then get ready for more CT scans and appointments with four different docs.

(Yes.  I said a TSH of 11.8.  In the event that you're NOT an Endocrinologist (my dear Dr Cavanaugh who was mine for 35 years and saw me through thyroid cancer along with Mayo Clinic retired) and apparently nobody (including me) thought to check it)...a TSH of 11.8 is N.O.T.G.O.O.D. At all. As a matter of fact, I am now about 78% sure that the majority of my symptoms are related to everything just shutting down.)

(But I'm not a doctor, and I stopped attending Google Medical School, and now I let the professionals do their job.)

(And yes....I am desperately trying to find new professionals who will take me on as a patient.)

In between this mish-a-goss I am trying to remain calm, eat and sleep well, put shoes and socks on and do things every now and then (like go to a music performance or see my GodDaughters), and make sure to stitch and diamond paint every day.

No stitchy progress to show, since I get about three little x's in and then start rummaging through baskets, but here are a couple of small DPs that are done and in the portfolio/book thingie under my chair:

And now it's time for a nice long nap, Dearies. Thank you from the bottom of my pitiful little heart for all of your thoughts and prayers and notes and cards and wonderful, wonderful support. I am, as always, completely overwhelmed with gratitude for each and every one if you.

I'll be back as soon as I can!

Love,

coni

Until I get myself together, please enjoy a little beefcake. 

You're welcome.