September...and October UFO

OK, I will get this right this time.  Meaning: When linking up to Judy at Patchwork Times UFO Challenge I've found myself posting for the new month's selection rather than the progress on the month just ending.  So, having clarified that in my mind and on paper blog media, Here's the progress on September's selection:   

     #11.  (My #023) - Rooster: 100% hand project: 4 blocks finished, 2 to go, then to be backed, quilted, binding. Status:  Made progress on block #5 above, the Dresden Plate, getting the 'plate' done but not attached to the background fabric or getting the center circle added.  

Now, for October it's this one:

    
      6.   #022 - Cumberland Mountain: it's partially quilted but I quit working on it because I wasn't happy with how the quilting was going, so I need to either finish with what I was doing or remove some of the quilting and re-do where I didn't like it. 

This quilt is for my friend Lois.  She house sits and feeds cats and waters plants for us during the summer when both Marty and I might be gone at the same time.   One summer when I returned from my trip to the northern wet land, she said she was trying to de-clutter some things from her small one-bedroom apartment and knew I quilted, so she gave me several bags of fabric, not all quilt-worthy, as she sewed clothing, but still quite a haul for my stash!  With that in mind, and how she is always willing to be helpful to us, I decided I'd make her this quilt. The pattern's name (I'll have to get the details when I can get it off the closet shelf.) and the lightning design are what drew me to this one as she had/has an ancestor/relatives in that locale.  All but the background fabric and I think one other, the green trees there at the bottom edge, were from the fabrics she gave to me.  I had planned to finish it that year, but it's now been several and she has a birthday coming up in November...can I get a finish of at least one UFO this year?  All I can say is, "I will try."

Thankful Thursday

These have been my 'best friend' for the last near-six weeks!  I'm tired of them and would like to see them gone - permanently, but I'll need them still for just awhile longer.  I'm thankful I had have them.  They are and have been very handy, even for things they weren't intended for, things like the following:

• reaching to turn on the wall light
• pulling 'mousie' closer when Raven drops it too far away while playing fetch
• adjusting the shower head in the shower
• acting as a propeller of sorts when I use my pseudo-wheelchair
• grabbing the handle of the door of the garage leading to the laundry area to pull it closed
• lifting the bath towel off the hook in the bathroom when I forgot to get it close enough to the shower

There have probably been other things over the last six weeks where using the crutches have aided me in other than mobilization, but they aren't coming to mind at the moment.  Have you had other uses for crutches if you've ever used them?  I saw a post come through on facebook once where someone used them as the end posts in their garden when running the strings for their peas.

Tuesday night I took my first test drive using my injured foot, and then yesterday afternoon I drove with Marty riding shot-gun "just in case" while we went to get Nick from school.  It went well, so I have now officially taken over Nick's transportation duties - which means: I get to get out of the house every day! I am so very thankful for that.  I never thought I'd get tired of being 'at home' until I realized I had to totally depend on others to take me somewhere - and that happened only one day per week.

Also, this morning was my follow-up appointment to find out how well the foot is healing.  Doc said "it's healing well" :)  Well enough that, while he said to still use the crutches I could start doing what he called 'toe taps' - not to be confused with tap dancing - where I could start by putting my toes down first with a little weight on them.  He said probably not full weight yet for at least the next week to 10 days, the toe taps are a progression.  And as it further heals and becomes more comfortable then go from there.  It doesn't hurt to put weight on my heal either, so today I am especially thankful that I am no longer housebound, and that I'm making good progress.

So I thank any and all who have prayed for me, please continue to do so, and give God the glory for designing our bodies with the healing mechanisms they have - fearfully and wonderfully made !!!  I am also thankful for friends that listened to my rants and complaints, some of which were about my husband - oh dear - but I am truly thankful I have him and that he has helped to the best of his abilities.  I'm thankful too, that he will soon be out of my kitchen - we are very different in our cooking & cleaning styles ;p  I'm sure he will likewise be happy and thankful to leave the kitchen behind, lol.

Oh, and you know what?  If I can use my foot on my car's accelerator...that means I should be able to use my foot on my sewing machine peddle, how cool is that?  Now I just have to manage to get that table cleared off and get a project down there to be worked on!  Where there's a will, there's a way right?  (Lesson learned with crutches multiple uses, lol)

Typical Tuesday

I had have a post I would like to put up, but I've been trying for days to upload a couple short videos without success.  Each time I try I get an error message saying a problem was encountered - boo, hiss, is this a Blogger issue or is it my video and how would I know?  I haven't been able to figure out a way to get help from Blogger - I need a computer education!  One video clip is exactly one minute, the other is one and a half.  Sigh!  The video involves this sweetie: 

Flame

 

Today is the day I was suppose/d (which is it? 'd' or no 'd') to go back to the doc to find out what the status is on my foot's healing and whether or not I'd be able to start putting some weight, any weight on it, as in just enough to press the accelerator and/or brake of my car - I would be ecstatic with just that!  However, Tuesdays are and have been difficult days for both my usual helper and my husband, so the doc that's been involved with this is also only in on Tues & Thurs, so I had to reschedule and my appt is now for Thursday at 8:30 a.m.  Actually, that's a good time because we drop the boys off at school just before 8:00 and that gets me to the doc right about my appt time without having to hang out anywhere waiting for my usual 9:30 time.  That also means two extra days of healing which will hopefully benefit me in getting the ok to be able to drive.  I never did get around to finding out if I could physically drive with my left foot - may be a little scary in our heavy traffic, so probably a good thing.  I feel I 'owe' my friend Essie (Nick's friend Jay's mom) a ton of repayment.  She has been such a sweet blessing to me with getting Nick to school every morning as well as back home every day, and getting me to my doctor appts and picking me up on Tuesdays so I can watch Nick bowl. And speaking of bowling, I need to get my sorry self downstairs and showered and fed so that I'll be ready later to be picked up.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Endeavour

Before I became a stay-at-home-mom I had a full-time, money-paying job.  Some days I miss both the job, and the money.  I don't miss the drive.  I don't miss the aggravations that sometimes came with working with a lot of other people, with deadlines and insufficient help.  I do miss some of the people I worked with.  I miss the routines - they really kept me in check. 

The company I worked for made a very important part for the space shuttle.  In fact, without that part, those shuttles would not be in the air!  .

This morning, I watched the television broadcast of the shuttle Endeavour as it made it's rounds over significant locations on the West Coast.  It evoked some teary eyes.  I had pride in the product our company built.  I had pride in the end product (the shuttle) that those parts went onto.  I had pride in NASA and our space program.  One day, I would love to be able to visit the location where the Endeavour will be housed.  I understand visitors will be able to view the insides - I can only imagine. 

I remember too well the days we, as a company, as a nation, as a global body, lost the Challenger, and later the Columbia, though I was no longer working there when we lost the Columbia. Those days were very hard, and very somber.  Today was bittersweet for me.  I remembered all the times at my job with my co-workers, and though my job was in Telecommunications, a supporting job rather a hands-on one, it was exciting to be a part of the great adventure of space exploration and scientific learning that came about because of the space shuttle and the space station.  It's sad to see one era of that end, but sweet to know that there is a future whether large or small depending on whatever administration at the time funds it.  I have a friend involved with the Mars explorations.  As Bud Lightyear would say "To infinity and beyond!".

photo from: http://gimp-savvy.com/cgi-bin/img.cgi?nasa5JGpG6DM8Ro2021

Oh Dear!

Has it really been nearly two weeks since I posted? Yikes! I wouldn't have thought that.  I suppose that's a reflection of what's been happening, or rather, not happening around here.

I'm on 'countdown' to prayerfully be able to put weight on my foot and thereby hopefully to be a little more productive.  My doctor appointment is next Tuesday the 25th.  If I'm given the go-ahead to be able to put even minimal weight on my foot, I will drive!  I haven't been able to drive since Aug. 17th...I miss my car.  I miss being able to take Nick to school and to go pick him up.  And I am so thankful to my friend who has been getting him there and back home as well as a couple others who were able and willing to fill in when she wasn't able to.  Two of those people I have only talked with on the phone and never met in person - that will change as I plan to thank them personally!

Lay out prior to stitching.

I have no updates or changes on my stashbusting.  Nor have I made great strides on the September project.  I've worked on it just a little over two hours, and the plate circle is complete.  It now needs to be added to the background/foundation portion of the block, and then have the center appliqued on.








Yesterday was my one day of the week where I'm able to get out of the house as Nick's friend's mom picks me up before getting the boys from school so that we can get Nick to the bowling alley for his league games. She drops us off and then goes her own way. Nick struggled on the first game getting 'only' a 157.  His second game was better in the 180s. and his third game was great - a 205!  Woohoo :)  Marty then picks us up after he gets home from work.  Last week we ate dinner at the alley's cafe, a nice cobb salad for me, a meatloaf dinner for Marty and a burger for Nick.  This week we just came home and had a spaghetti & meatballs dinner. 

Is this is nice pose, Mom?

Sleeping baby under a stool that's under my desk which I prop my foot upon.

Raven has been my best buddy while I've been secluded and housebound.  She keeps me entertained by her desire to play fetch. And when she's tired, she sleeps pretty much at my feet.  I've taken to referring to her as my puppy-cat. 

Garden Tidbit

I would love to have a garden, but the energy and motivation just isn't there to care for one throughout our hot summers. Adding to that is that I'm usually away from home for nearly a month every summer, and any 'garden' area isn't equipped with easy watering nor good soil. Oh, we have a faucet and a hose, but that would require frequent moving of a sprinkler or the hose, as well as someone to do it, and let's face it, for all his fun-loving outdoor hiking and backpacking and photographing, Marty is not a farmer...doesn't know a thing about planting, pruning, watering, fertilizing, pesticiding isn't that a word? no? well, I'm using it anyway, just hang with me. Additionally, he also often takes off for a week or two during my absence and our housesitter, bless her heart, knows even less about such things.  We've managed to grow an annual cherry-type tomato plant in a pot each year, but that's about it. And this year's plant is the same one from last year, and I think it's now bit the dust without producing but a single tomato. Heck, we can barely keep the ornamental flowers and shrubs growing!  We have no problem with weeds though! And whatever grows from what the squirrels 'plant'...usually palm trees or oaks.

Some people have wonderful gardens. Judy at Patchwork Times, and Barbara at Cat Patches and others  have written about gardens and canning their produce. And Judy has talked about their efforts to keep deer out of their garden. My mom use to have a garden up in the wet land, and I remember when growing up with gardens, that deer were often a problem.

Tonight, while watching Alton Brown on the Cooking Channel, he was talking about herbs. He started talking about rosemary, and mentioned that rosemary is planted to keep deer out of the garden, they don't like it and won't go near it. Now, I would think that a single plant probably wouldn't keep deer out of a decent garden, you'd probably have to plant a hedge all the way around, but I thought that to be an interesting tip, especially if it truly does work. And think of all that yummy rosemary you'd have for cooking, heck, you could probably harvest, dry and start an herb business selling rosemary, and maybe that could lead to other rosemary scented items, soap, vinegars, oils, sauces that you could sell. Hurry up, get that rosemary planted before the deer know what hit them ;p

Fina-Lee Friday

It's been a largely unexciting week, other than to say that Marty used his car to kiss the bumper of a car in front of him last week.  No damage to either, nor have we heard from the other party.  He was 'distracted' by something at the stop sign near our home.  And he didn't even tell me until the next day.

Nick is still getting rides to school from his friend Jay's mom.  She's been a great blessing to us during this time.  She's also been getting Nick home, however, I'm now having to arrange other means three days a week since Jay is going out for flag-football and that's just too boring for Nick to sit through, and too hot, to sit and try to do his homework in the car.  I'm sure he will be glad when Mom can drive again.  We have all days covered up through my next appointment on the 25th.

On Wednesday I had a huge burst of energy - amazing how that happened with the cast being removed!  But since I can't bear any weight on my foot - doctor's orders! - I had to be creative with how I went about doing some chores.  With two guys doing the chores for nearly 3 weeks, some things sorely needed a woman's touch.  I cleared the frig of all science projects (after having slimy lettuce placed in front of me one night - ewwww), cleaned up the remaining heads of Romaine, I scoured the sink with cleanser, washed the dishes that were there after running the dishwasher empty (we only use it as a drying rack as it no longer cleans dishes, and still gets a bit grody so I run it once it in awhile).  I took a shower! That's a big deal, especially knowing I was home alone and had to be extra cautious getting into and out of the shower coordinating crutch and shower stool. I crawled back upstairs to gather the laundry.  How does one do that on crutches?  One grabs a pillowcase and shoves all the dirty clothes into it, grabs as much edge as possible while still grabbing the crutch and leans against the railing to pick it up and toss it over so that it lands at the bottom of the stairs, where once I was back down there, I could use my pseudo-wheelchair and get it to the garage.  Then toss it out there and use the crutches to get to the chair at the machine - sort and wash.  The chair comes in handy not only for sitting but to stand on good foot while putting knee/shin on chair to be 'normal' height.  By the end of the day, I'd accomplished getting about 5 loads of laundry washed, dried, hung, folded - but had to wait for Nick to get home to get it upstairs to the closets.  The folded stuff is still on the dining room table.  I went through our receipt box and wrote checks for any bills that hadn't yet been taken care of.  I talked on the phone. I watched TV. I played fetch with Raven. I made mental notes of so many things that are falling behind.  I fixed my lunch.  By the end of the day, I was pleasingly exhausted.

Thursday told me I'd overdone it on Wednesday.  Aside from a couple trips to the potty, I stayed in bed until 11:00...I was physically so very tired.  Breakfast and lunch weren't had until I got myself downstairs around 1:30.   Funny thing, the guys haven't done much any 'housework' since I did all that I did on Wednesday - hmmm, maybe that was a bad idea on my part!  

Today, I clearly noticed how my right calf muscle is atrophying.  And it'll be another two and a half weeks (or more?) before I can start using my foot & bearing weight on it, guess that right calf will get even smaller :(

Awhile back, when I was still able-bodied, I'd looked out the back and saw this 'lump' out on the fence.  Took my camera and edged my way close to it, zoomed in, and here's what was there...a baby robin!  It didn't seem to be too afraid, yet I worried about stray cats that occasionally show up, especially from the hind side of the fence!

Great-grandmother's tea set

Nick, Aunt Ellen, Lee

From my trip back in June, and my visit to my Aunt Ellen at the retirement community where she lives, and where she gave us a tour and showed us this little tea-set.  It apparently belonged to my great-grandmother. The residents have opportunity to display some of their treasures in a secure glassed-in display area for all to see; the theme changes each month.  I thought that was pretty nifty.

Good News, Bad? News

I'm back from my doctor appointment today.  The results of today's cast removal and x-rays are mixed:

the bad: the two broken bones have only healed minimally;
the good news: I can go to the boot, with strict limitations;
more bad news: MUST continue to use the crutches for three more weeks - NO weight on the foot (except just long enough on the heal to get into the shower to sit on the shower stool);
more good news: I can take the boot off whenever I'm not in a weight-bearing position - like extended sitting times, and SLEEPING  YAY!!!!!  and it's okay to flex my toes and bend my foot at the ankle :)
other good news? well for me but maybe not for them?:  My guys get to do three more weeks of housekeeping, chores, cooking, etc.  Maybe I'll have Marty rent a wheel chair after all.  That way, he can take me with him to do grocery shopping (he struggles in that area), etc. and maybe I can sit in the kitchen and give him and Nick cooking lessons.  I'm considering contacting my friend's weekly housekeepers to come and do some of the things.  After two weeks, things are looking very 'bachelor-ish', and I know my own housekeeping wasn't top-notch, hehe, so I can't complain too much.

Ladies from our church fellowship group have ministered to us a few times by bringing supper meals to a friend up the street who then brings them to us - hard for me to get to the door, and I'm a bit embarrassed by how the house looks. 

Marty and I had a brief discussion about this being ministered to.  I'm no longer in pain, I just can't physically stand up to do things, so if I can get the guys better on board, we can probably work out our own meals, so I told my friend that, if at all,  maybe no more than a couple meals a week, on days that work better for her as she has very busy Tuesdays and Thursdays, but that if meals end, that's fine, we WILL manage somehow, we're not in a dire position.  I still think of a young woman in the class with a toddler and one month old and wonder if she needed help with meals and didn't get it, :( - makes me sad to think. 

Sometimes I think our independent spirits keep us (generically & specifically) from allowing others to help, and from accepting help from others because we don't want to see ourselves as needy, and as I heard in a message from some level at church many years ago, that attitude robs others of the crowns they may have earned by being able to minister as well as keeping others from developing a servant's heart.  Maybe that's part of the whole message here, Marty & I, Nick too, need to learn/re-learn to have a servant's heart.  We've become extremely independent and self-sufficient of others and haven't done much in the way of serving others ourselves in recent years.  Marty has helped with some moves and has taken Nick on one, and I helped get a young woman to her chemo appointments several years ago, but aside from that we've not been very involved.  Something to consider, yes.

He who has been blessed with much, should bless others.  I know there's a Scripture to that tune, but I don't recall it off hand, and don't have my Bible near me at the moment.

Praising Him for the good, and the bad, and the difficult, and trying hard to be patient with this healing process.

Sunday Update

Well, when I posted my September UFO Challenge quilt info my brain must have been thoroughly scrambled.  Oh, I posted pictures of the right quilt and the blocks, but as I later went back to the project container, I realized it only has six (6) blocks total, not nine (9) as I had stated.  So that should be good news - less to do than originally thought?  I just couldn't figure out why I only had pictures of five (5) blocks! 

Yesterday, I worked some more on that fifth block, about 3/4 of an hours worth of time.  The 'hardest' block is the sixth.  Not so much because it is difficult, it's an applique block, but because I've struggled with finding just the right Rooster image to use.  I even went so far as to trace a rooster off my parent's garage mat! when I was up north in June. 

I also errantly linked that post up to the August UFO finishes at Patchwork Times.  I think I've done that a couple of times.  Maybe it counts because, even while it isn't finished, I DID work on it that last day of August, hehe.

I am VERY tired of cast and crutches.  Pray that the cast comes off on Tuesday, and I can go to the boot, and that, should I need an MRI (which has not been done), that there is nothing like major ligament damage.  I suppose that's my fear.  My "Eeyore" husband, thinks it's going to be a very long time before I'm without pain and able to fully use my foot again. I saw this phrase recently and had to print it on my label maker and stuck it to the edge of a shelf where I can see it every day, every hour, I'm at my computer - and that's a lot these days! - anyway, here's the phrase:  "You can't live a positive life with a negative mind."  Now, I'm not into the 'positive thinking' philosophy, but I do think this holds true, and I know, I struggle enough with negative thinking, but Mr. Marty tops me by miles!  Pray for HIM!  If that phrase was from someone whose blog I read and who also reads mine, thank you!