I've Returned

Do you ever sit down to write and have no idea about where to begin? This is where I am finding myself right now. It is hard to catch up on almost two months of blogging in one post.

A few days after my last post on March 2nd my life became very busy. My mother was readmitted to the hospital for several weeks because the infection within her hip flared up again. Most of my days were spent with her as that was what was important at that time. When she was discharged she came to stay with us while her treatments continued. At the time of discharge she was still receiving IV antibiotics three times a day. Since I am a R.N. I was allowed to give them to her. Needless to say, that consumed most of our day as each IV infused over a three hour period. Last week they finally discontinued the IV antibiotics and have placed her on oral ones. Although still somewhat weakened by the whole ordeal over the last six months, she did return to her home this week. She has been such a trooper throughout and a real inspiration to all who have come in contact with her. She remains our hero in every way.

Shortly after she got out of the hospital my uncle (her brother) and my cousin came out from Iowa to spend a few days. We had such a delightful time with them. My cousin had never been here before and it had been eight years since my mother and her brother had seen each other. We hated to see them leave.

Don't you see a strong family resemblance?

My brother, cousin, hubby, uncle, son and BIL prepping the pizza oven.

Spring has sprung in my time away and so have a few bones in the grandchildren. We had three broken arms at the same time - two on trampoline accidents and one a klutzy move of an active two year old. The last one required surgery to put pins in the elbow. Life is never dull around here.

Awaiting the application of a light blue cast.

John Dee*re green cast on little on in cart, light blue cast on passenger at wheel.



Easter was delightful at our son and DIL's home. The chocolate fountain was a HUGE hit and the messy children could tell the story through pictures alone.

Our children from left to right...#3, #2, #1, me, hubby, #5 and #4........on a breezy hair day.

All the grandchildren together for the photo op.

YUM!!!!

YUK!!!! Good thing the hose was close by and it was warm outside.

On Easter it was announced that this little guy is going to be a big brother in October. All are thrilled and we will be so happy to welcome our 21st grandchild on October 21st! Our 20th was also due to arrive on the 20th. I feel a pattern emerging here.






I haven't had a lot of time in my sewing room, but I did manage to get two Easter dresses made. My DIL wanted all five girls dressed in yellow dresses for Easter and was unable to find acceptable ones for two of the girls. I love sewing for children.

I'd like this in my size.

I loved the princess neckline on this little dress.

As well I have finished two of my swap puzzle pieces. The other two are WIPs and should be done soon.





I am going to leave you with a heartwarming story. Two of our sons own a small chain of Italian restaurants. We also have a Naval base close to us and the restaurants are frequented by military men and women. One of the restaurant's more frequent customers approached my son a few months ago with a request. He wanted to pay for the meal of several servicemen who were eating dinner at the same time that he and his wife were. The gesture was greatly appreciated. It did not stop there. As he left he requested that free meals be given to each service man or woman who came in for time unknown at his expense. My son warned him that the "word" may get out and his bill could skyrocket. That made no difference to him. For the last several months each free meal is accompanied with a note of thanks for their service to our country and....the best news......it has not been abused. No one is told the name of the donor by request, but the notes of thanks have poured into the restaurant. He and his wife did, however, join us for Easter and we were able to tell him what a thrill it is to see the gratitude on the faces of those after hearing that their meals are complimentary. Humble as he is, he said that he was just grateful for all that they do for us.




I appreciate all of you who have e-mailed me and continued to hang in there while I was away. I apologize for my lack of getting to follow your posts and will, hopefully, be able to catch up on what has been going on in blogville. I have missed it so much.

Everyone must also check out this wonderful Giveaway. Talk about doing up your birthday in a BIG way!!!!

Monday's Mixes

Isn't there a saying about red skies in the morning...sailors take warning? We had the most beautiful bright red skies this morning followed by a drizzling rain most of the day. I think that this is what we have forecast for us for the remainder of the week too. I am certainly not complaining because we have just enjoyed a spell of deliciously warm days. I understand the other coast has had March come in more like the lion that we hear about. Guess that means it will go out like a lamb.

This week in the mail I received the most exciting box. It was from Sandi who had participated in the Whirl Into Winter Giveaway. I have to tell you that I have absolutely no idea how she managed to fit so much in one box, but if I ever have to move I want her to pack for me. Just look at all the goodies. The box was filled with bins that were packed with the best gifts. There were patterns, wool felt, threads, candies, stickers, note cards, doily, fabrics, tissues and on and on. I was really excited to win this package because I have been intrigued with the lovely felt projects that I have seen on various blogs, especially Sandi's. Now I get to try it myself and Sandi has offered me the chance to pick her brain if I have any questions. Look out, Sandi, as I will definitely be contacting you.

As I mentioned, the past week has blessed us with beautiful warm, clear days. That type of weather always sparks the desire for a little outdoor entertaining. We fired up the wood burning oven yesterday and had one of our sons and his family over for a pizza party. The girls love making the pizzas to every one's likings. They are getting very proficient at rolling out the dough and adding all the different toppings.

The youngest girl preferred to play dress up with the dolls.

Saturday evening we celebrated my mother's 86th birthday by taking her out for dinner. My three siblings, their spouses, my husband and I all enjoyed a great meal with her. It has been a few rough months for her and it was nice to just enjoy being together without all the medical worries for a few hours.

The doctor did a repeat MRI on her hip and we got the results last week. The sepsis has not completely cleared up on the oral antibiotics so she had to have a venous line put in her arm to receive I.V. antibiotics each day. She had called me to tell me that the doctor wanted her to have them daily for 42 weeks!!!! It turns out that it is only for 42 days which was a tremendous relief. They are allowing me to infuse them at home which makes it a little easier on her. This whole ordeal has been very tiring on her as anyone can imagine.

I was able to get out in the garden a bit this weekend and it felt so wonderful. I noticed that the swallows have returned to the area already. A large dark cloud of them flew over and circled before heading onwards. They say that they return to the Mission San Juan Capistrano on St. Joseph's Day which is March 19th.

This lovely little tomato was on a volunteer plant in my flower bed. The seed must have been dropped by a bird or the tortoises because I do not plant tomatoes in the flowers. It was delicious!

I brought my one of my blooming orchids inside to enjoy.

I've had a little time in my sewing room this week but it was mostly catching up on mending. I did make a few of the wonky log cabins that I am seeing on blogs. It is a great project for using scraps of which I have a gazillion and for having no plan other than it has to measure a certain size. FUN! I also did some much needed organizing.

Everyone needs to check out this great Giveaway. You also need to follow her links to see a fabulous rug pattern at the Moda Bakeshop.

May every one of you have a wonderful week.

Is it Spring Yet?

It seems as though spring is slowly creeping up on us. I say slowly because it will be warm and sunny one day and then chilly (for us) the next. Ones hopes get up that summer is just around the corner. My daughter was telling me on Sunday that daylight savings time begins in just two more weeks. There IS hope. Yeah!

I have three of the tortoises out for the summer. The females are usually the first to emerge, but we do have one male that has also surfaced. As well, I have noticed a family of finches and of a small wren building nests right outside of the sewing room. I love to watch their busyness of nest construction. The male will bring a looooong twig and try to fit it in the hole and the female will bring these nice short ones. I can almost hear her say "Can you keep it neat, please?"

I had a chance to take a walk around the yard this weekend and was amazed at all that is out and blooming. I must say that all of this cannot be attributed to my good care as I have not had a moment to get out in the garden.

Christmas Cactus

Gardenia

Calla Lily

Yellow Alstromeria

White Alstromeria

Dutch Iris

Sweet Pea

Fuchsia

Red Hibiscus (tortoise food)

Yellow Hibiscus

Yesterday was a day to have my mind tested. I went in for my regular mammogram and bone density test. NOT! I arrived promptly for my 9:30 a.m. tests only to be told that my appointment was not Monday, but Tuesday. Oh.....by the way, it was at 11:00 too. Now, I can completely understand having the wrong day, but to also have the wrong time is a mystery to me. I have a feeling that something is fishy. I think what happened is that THEY put the wrong appointment in the computer. So today I will return and if they tell me that my appointment was yesterday I will be mildly upset. I have been taking my mom to 3-4 doctor appointments each week for the last three weeks and I haven't gotten any of them wrong.

The better news is that I have my new computer up. I won't say "up and running" yet, but "up" and in place. There are still a lot of things that I need to do before I will be back to normal. I should be doing that instead of blogging. I certainly got a lot more accomplished when the computer was sick. Hmmm.








Saturday night was the school auction for our our grandchildren's school. Everyone was terribly worried about what the end numbers would be with the financial problems that we hear about. The uniform that I had made for the American G*irl doll was involved in a bidding war. When the price finally got to $600 my DIL asked me if I would be willing to make another one and sell them both for the $600. Both bidders were happy with that solution. Sunday I spent making another uniform so it would be available to be picked up at school on Monday morning. I cannot imagine paying that kind of money for doll clothes, but I know it goes to a good cause. Perhaps people were looking to make a donation to the school and figured that would be a good way to do it. If not, I should go into business. This is a picture of the uniform that I made last year - the same as this year.










This week is my mother's 86th birthday. She has been such a trooper and never ceases to amaze me in what she does and accomplishes. My sister and I will take her to lunch on Thursday, her birthday, between doctor appointments. Then on Saturday night my three siblings and their spouses will take her out for a nice birthday dinner. This is the card that I have made and mailed to her.









There certainly seems to be a lot of illnesses going around. I read about it on different blogs and I see it in our family. Both my husband and I have had nasty colds for weeks now and our youngest grandson has RSV. He was a pretty sick little guy over the weekend, but is doing better now.








So....now I am off for another appointment. I hope that I have it right this time. Wish me luck!

No Pictures Today

I believe that the flu season must have also spread to computers. I have read of so many bloggers with computer problems this week. Perhaps we need a "flu index" for computers like they present for outbreaks of the flu.



Anyhow......my desktop computer died. It really, really died - won't even turn on anymore. I can't say that I am surprised because it has been temperamental for the last few weeks. However, that is where I do most all of my work. I feel somewhat at peace because I had subscribed to that Carbon*ite program and it will hopefully restore all my files, etc. At any rate, I have nothing but words to share today because I am using the computer that I need for my sewing machine.



I read that everyone seemed to enjoy Valentine's Day. We are not big on going out for dinner or celebrating in any special way, but we did enjoy the day. My dear husband got up and washed all the windows in the house!!!! He has NEVER done that before so it was a complete surprise for me. Of course it poured down rain right after he finished. Poor soul! I really did LOVE the sweet thought and action.



One of the granddaughters came over and sewed some doll clothing during the day while her brothers were off to a basketball tournament. Then in the evening our daughter and her baby came over to enjoy dinner with us while her husband worked. We had a delicious dinner of Osso Bucco, mushroom risotto, salad and cream puffs for dessert. It was a stormy, cold, and rainy evening so we all enjoyed a nice fire and a little television after dinner.



The past week was filled with follow up appointments for my mom with the different doctors she saw while in the hospital. We also spent the better part of the day in the emergency room yesterday as they ruled out a blood clot in her leg. They decided that it was merely an inflammatory reaction to the recent sepsis in her hip. Thank heavens!



I have managed to get some sewing done this week as well. I have finished all of my hand sewn nosegay blocks and will assemble them soon. I also made a small quilt and a school uniform for an auction at the children's school this weekend. I wish I could share the pictures of them with you, but that will have to wait until my new computer arrives.



Now it is back to the cleaning and laundry.......

Contrasts

Our week has shown us great contrasts in our beautiful country. I am certain that our forefathers could never have imagined that one would be able to experience such different climates within a weeks span.

This was the view from our balcony just a week ago last Thursday as we enjoyed a wonderful business meeting in the Florida Keys.

Midlife Mom and I were able to reconnect and share some wonderful time visiting with each other during our few short days together there. It is always so much fun to chat in person. She has several wonderful posts about the resort and has some great pictures as well so pop over and see how lucky we were to visit.

We were home for three days and then off again for our annual family trip to the Sierras. This is the view from our balcony this past weekend. It's a bit of a difference I believe. Both were equally beautiful.

We arrived right before the first flakes fell from a new storm that hit while we were there. Over the next few days we enjoyed several feet of fresh snow and it was gorgeous. There was no wind and the giant flakes fell with such quiet. We were all able to enjoy many hours of sledding and snow play. Several of the gang went skiing and they, too, enjoyed their days.

It is always such fun to see all the kids and grandkids enjoying each other's company. There were always games to play, cooking to be done, meals to be enjoyed and many laughs to be shared.

"Grandma....it's too snowy to look at the camera."

Just chillin'

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying the fun.

The girls hanging out.

Youngest son, wife and grandson.

Glad I didn't run into him in the dark!

A Californian snowman!!

Daughter, SIL and grandson.

Three sons and their wives.

Boggle game in progress.

Adult Boggle too!

Lunch in shifts.

DILs hanging out too.

The boys at Scrabble.

Double fisted eater.

Arriving home after such a delightful weekend brought us back to reality in a hurry. Water was coming out from under the garage door due to a broken water heater. Of course it's a Sunday! Tomorrow we are having it replaced with a tankless water heater. I am in no mood to have that happen again. Meanwhile the laundry and dishes await some hot water.

Our warm temperatures have switched to cool and wet days forecast for the foreseeable future. It is nice to get some moisture as it is what we have been needing for some time now. I doubt that it will make up for what we need, but it is certainly making a good effort at it. Today the skies simply opened up on us.

Life should be back to normal for a while now and I am looking forward to it. My mother continues to improve daily and is happy to be regaining her strength. I will perhaps be able to get into my sewing room later this week and do something other than mend on the fly.

Life is good.

As an addition to my post please check out this blog that Tracey has posted for quilted 12" blocks to help the Australian fire victims. We can all help these people in such great need.