OFF TO THE WALMARTS TOR SHOT NUMBER TWO!

 

ALMOST...

 

HEAVEN HELP ME

 Taking Magoo for his second Covid shot in a few minutes. He is so phobic of all things medical...especially needles! Oh, how I wish I could take it for him, but alas, my turn is Saturday.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY, DEARIES!

 

TUESDAY

Spring is moving right along, Dearies...in both the stitchy and meteorological senses. Although cold yesterday, I believe we are returning to the low 50's today, and I plan on spending a few more hours with needle and thread in hand!

MOVING MY CHEESE ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE

Do you remember how my dear Dad gave me the book Who Moved My Cheese when I was in my twenties as a lesson about learning to adapt to change and how I should really try not to be so rigid and afraid of new things?

Well, apparently the universe is really trying to test me in that department.

I'm at dialysis at 7am in the heiney crack of the morning in a new chair and a new pod with new podmates and a whole new view of the world.

(I knew this was coming for about a week or so....they asked me if I might like a first shift chair and one opened up, so I took it.)

(The whole new neighborhood, though, wasn't something I expected.)

The truth of the matter is that I am going to love this, since it means I will be finished with treatment and home before noon. That means I can have a late breakfast and catch a little nap and still have the day to look forward to.

The old time was fine, but getting home at 2:30 made for weird eating times and really seemed to waste the entire day and evening.

Of course, this means mandatory early bedtime and getting up a bit before 6am, but my hope is that this new routine will be very short-lived and the CALL will happen any day now.

So now, Dearies, I'm going to settle in and check out the new digs.

I'll leave you with a progress pic of Spring. Happy Monday!

SUNDAY SPINSTER SHENANAGINS

 

WELL...APPARENTLY I'M GETTING GOOD AT THIS

Ugh again today, Dearies. 

But I am armed with my damn good and my favorite little things in the world...the cranberry orange Bisconies from the Costco, which are a very rare treat since they are pricey in the calorie department.

It is an absolutely gorgeous day here in Hoosierville, and the new placement of the Happy Chair allows me to get tons of light from both the back slider and the front bedroom windows. In a few minutes, I will open both a bit to catch some of the breeze.

I do have a few minor things to do before settling in with stitching for the day, but doing them shouldn't be too taxing on my delicate disposition (she says, rolling her eyes).

Lots of research last night into my recent "decline". It really bothers me that I seem to be wiped out more and more after the d-chair, and what I can determine so far is that it is definitely related to my Lady Change. (Sorry, gents, but this here portly spinster is of that age where things like plummeting estrogen and sprouting chin hairs are going to be discussed.)

So that's all of my TMI for the day. I'll be here all day if you feel like popping in for a chat!

FRIDAY...I THINK

Well, Dearies, I lived to tell the tale...but just barely.

Yesterday was all about soft pajamas, a beautiful breeze coming in the window, movies on the TeeVee, and lots of stitching and looking at stitching and reading about stitching and thinking about stitching and mot much else.

Exactly how I like it.

(Minus the flu-like feelings of being dropped from a tall building and then being hit by a cross town bus and being left on the pavement with nothing to drink.)

The Mill Hill conundrum was solved when I remembered a lovely gift from Miss Charlene that I had stashed in my Special Gift Treasure Chest. It's a cloth that is white on one side and dark on the other that you drape over your lap to provide a good background.

I was straining and straining so hard to see the holes on the dark brown aida, and I was making the mistake of concentrating the light from above instead of from below. I also figured out how to download an app onto my ipad thingie to turn it into a light box, which I think will help also.

Once that was solved, I picked up Spring and made some nice progress. I finished off the "I" and all of the little moteefs surrounding it and started on the "N":

I have to say, even with all of the color changes, this is just a joy to stitch!

In between all of the stitching, I managed to eat carefully and get my iced lemon water in me. My gain today was minimal, so that always helps in the post-treatment hangover department.

Many of you have asked about the inconsistency of how I feel on dialysis and if there's anything that can be done to fix it. I really think it's a total crap shoot in my case, and other factors (like age, length of time in the d-chair, and menopause) have more to do with it. All I know is that I am doing to everything I can to feel as good as I can and follow directions, and that gives me peace of mind.

I think knowing that transplant is imminent also helps, since I am now looking forward to life after the d-chair and what trouble I will be into. Things might not change drastically for a while in terms of isolating and mask wearing, but eventually I want to travel and play golf and go to Guild and have Brunch and plan visits with my goddaughters and hold Magoo's hand at a baseball game or have a hot dog at a tailgate.

We'll see.

The weekend is upon us! I'm hoping to do a few chores and stitch my eyeballs out!

How about you?

THURSDAY....HANGOVER CITY

 

BIZZY. BIZZY. BIZZY

I futzed almost all day yesterday. Happily, I finished all of the laundry and attended to a few other chores on the list, and finally hit the Happy Chair in the afternoon with Spring:

This is the "I" in Spring, and it will be done once I add some cute little sunflowers at the base of it. I think there might be a few little birds flitting here and there too.

I'm stitching this on 28ct Dubloon instead of the called-for 30ct Gardeners Blend. I guess the difference between 28ct and 30ct isn't that great and I probably would have been fine, but I am (surprise, surprise) a creature of habit.

We're off like a herd of turtles today, Dearies! Futzingday is upon us, and it's time to done our most festive Futzingday apparel and make merry!

TUESDAY

 

MONDAY

Nothing new to report, Dearies. Buzzy and I are doing our thing here in the d-chair on a Monday. The sun is shining and it's in the 60's today, so we really don't have one darn thing to complain about.

We kind of ran hither and yon yesterday and came home a little worn out. I made rigatoni with meat sauce a la Midwestern a-medd-i-gan (at least that's what JB called it), ate too much, and went to bed a bit on the miserable side.

Somehow, though, I still managed to keep the fluid gain over the weekend very very low, so treatment today will be minimal.

I hope to have a new start tonight! Spring should be waiting for me in the mailbox when I get home, and if I'm not completely wiped out I'd like to get it under way. (Cricket Collection Spring, silly. Not actual Spring.)

(Although that would be totally cool...when you're ready for the next season you just pop down to your mailbox and transition yourself right into the next season.)

(I'd probably spend entirely too much time in Autumn, though, and screw it up for everybody.)

So that's it for me today. I hope you had a great weekend and that you have something fun planned for yourself this week! Come tell me all about it!

SUNDAY

 

IN WHICH THE SPINSTER ASSEMBLES HER SPRING STITCHY BASKET

The Cricket Collection Spring kit is en route, so not pictured here, but this is my quick start on a Spring Basket. I might move Grasshopper Pie to Summer, but for now I am OK to proceed today with what's here.

In the Mill Hill department, there are several others on deck, but I'm only going to keep one or two in my BitsyBiggie for trips back and forth to the d-chair.

I would imagine that Eliana, Cricket's Spring, and the Ehrman canvas will be more than enough to keep me busy for a bit, so there will be plenty of time to go back through stash and pull some more.

Never fear about Eliana's thread board...

It remains nicely intact in its project bag. If I told you how completely happy this makes me, would you believe me? I know it's obsessive, but when everything in your life seems to be beyond your control it's nice to have something you can get your arms around.

Happy Saturday, Dearies! The sun is shining and the birds are sweetly tweeting! After a Grotto walk, I'm going to plant myself in the Happy Chair and enjoy it. I hope you do, too!

AHHHHH...FRIDAY!

Such a wonderful surprise at the d-chair today! Nurse Sean has returned to us!

(Normal people would have said hello, asked for his family, and remarked how delighted they are to see him. Me, though? I blurted my weight out and told him eighteen times that as of Wednesday, I am a full FOUR KILOS...that's 8.8 pounds....below transplant goal weight.)

(Sean was witness to the great Menopause Gain of 2020 and did everything he could to remind and motivate me to lose weight and get under goal.)

So that's how my day started.

Miss Dana got me all hooked up without issue, and Buzzy and I are doing our thing, but contemplating a nap already. I seem to have plummeted to the bottom of the coaster today, Dearies, and every ounce of energy I had yesterday has disappeared.

(Good thing I got so much done...it means I can rest this weekend!)

After my big finish yesterday I picked up my Grasshopper Pie wip:

I have either misplaced the beads for this, or never ordered them in the first place. I'm exactly half way through the stitching portion, so have a fair way to go before I need them, but I might get them ordered so that they're ready to go.

This will probably be a Summer Basket project. My stash is not heavy on Summer things, so I might take the opportunity to play with some wips during June, July, and August.

Tomorrow I am definitely assembling my Spring Basket. With temperatures in the fifties and sixties and beautiful sunshine...it's time to celebrate all things Spring.

We will take our Grotto walk tomorrow, and it will be sandwiches for dinner, and on Sunday I am making rigatoni bolognese, garlic bread, and pork cutlet for JB. Tonight....salmon and pasta fagioli.

That's the Friday report from Hoosierville, Dearies! It's been a wonderful week of stitchy fun, and I'm hoping to carry it right on through to the weekend. How about you?

 

 

WOOOOO HOOOOO!

Winter

The Cricket Collection

28ct Helix Lugana

Threads converted to Colour & Cotton when possible

 

THURSDAY!!!

I'm not sure what caused it, but I had a nice little spurt of energy this morning that allowed me to tear through CS2 on a whirlwind and get several chores completed. Stupid stuff, really, but crossing them off of the to do list was very very satisfying.

I came thiiiiiiisss close to finishing Winter last night, but my eyes just would not cooperate. I came home from the d-chair and had a snack and a nap and then sat down to stitch and did so for a few hours, but those last few stitches will have to be plied today:

I was so focused on this that I didn't realize that my Jersey Boy had tuned the TeeVee to wrestling.

No, you didn't read that wrong. 

The love of my life follows and enjoys professional wrestling.

(Pause for a chuckle as you think to yourself "I wonder what Stewey would have to say about this little development?")

The truth of the matter is that wrestling was something that Rich and his son (also Rich) enjoyed together. Apparently, son Rich texted dad Rich to let him know that Shaquille O'Neal would be making an appearance, so the 76ers had to do their thing against Utah for a few minutes without my JB hollering at them to rebound and then shoot the bleepity bleeping ball.

Yup...it's all sports all the time around here, but I don't complain. My eyesight is such these days that I have to stitch with naked eyeballs, which means I can't watch the TV, so I stitch happily away and listen.

To baseball, basketball, football, cricket, soccer, tennis, golf, sailing, horse racing, and any other thing he wants to watch.

In other happy news, I did finish the background on the Mill Hill Snowflake in the d-chair yesterday. This means that I can try to finish the stitching on the third Winter Woods piece tomorrow!

We are in the midst of some gorgeous weather here in Hoosierville, and the sun is out and shining away. I am itching to get out onto the golf course, but need to bide my time a bit longer until my second shot has been administered and gone into effect, I think.

It's March, so that means green nails:

My dialysis techs get a kick out of my obsession with a monthly color, but Marcella vetoed the green. She did this last year, too, and asked me why I still went with the green despite her objection. 

Oh well...can't please 'em all, I guess.

(She was teasing me, by the way. Marcella is actually one of us...a fellow stitcher and from Columbia. She is getting ready to start a gorgeous Dimensions kit of flowers in Mason jars, and I can't wait to see her progress!)

Wow. I've just bent your ear for eleventy seven days, Dearies! Sorry about that! I guess I was just so excited to have a little energy today that I had to come tell you all about it!

Happy Thursday!

SALAMI AND EGGS?

My Jersey Boy is introducing me to all kinds of new things. When he first arrived, he requested peppers and eggs.  I was clueless.

I have, however, mastered that particular dish, and it is only made better by eating it on the Atlantic City Italian bread that is stashed in the freezer.

(Peppers and eggs is exactly what you think it is...peppers, onions, and eggs sautéed in butter and oil until soft, eggs scrambled in, and then lots of provolone to make it gooey.)

(Kind of like a cheesesteak, but with eggs.)

Yesterday, though, he requested salami and eggs, so before going at the peppers and onions I added a bunch of genoa salami.

He said it was delicious!

(I opted for leftover tortellini instead.)

We're trying to get ourselves on an Italian kick and have been watching Stanley Tucci's series on CNN. Last night we visited Bologna, and I immediately fell in love with Emilia Romana. My Dad's family comes from Compobasso in the Molise region, and Rich's is from Cave in Lazio, but I think we both agreed that ER... it's Parmesan, balsamic, and prociotto would be a great place to start.

(Never mind the bolognese.)

(This is the point where everybody in Italy rolls their eyes at me for being so completely ignorant of my ancestral country...and for the ridiculously bad spelling.)

(Sorry, Italy.)

Don't know what has me on the food kick today.

Buzzy and I are doing our thing, and I'm going to get some stitches in. The sun is shining and the ducks are doing their thing out on the pond. I am praying for enough energy after to get a few steps in!

What's new with you today, Dearies? Come tell me all about it!

NOT. MOVING. TODAY.