It Was Doctor Week

It’s Friday again.  This week has just flown by.  I guess because it has been a busy and strange week.  First of all, I want to mention that all of the spots that were frozen, burned and tags removed have healed nicely.  I looked ridiculous for a while.

Monday was just getting a few things accomplished around here.  Tuesday Renea and I spent a good part of the day checking out quilt shops.  Our first stop was Sunday Best Quiltworks in Ellerslie, GA.  It took us about 45 minutes to get there.  What else is new.  Everywhere we go around here is 30 to 45 minutes away.  Anyway, I really liked the place and the people.  I left both items to be quilted with them.  I also signed up for a T-Shirt Quilt Class and a lecture on the History of Quilts from the 1860’s to the early 1900’s.  I am looking forward to both classes.

After leaving there we decided to check out another quilt shop on Veterans Parkway in Columbus.  The name was Sew Much Fun.  Renea liked that shop better than the first one.  I thought it was okay.  They had some very pretty samples and material.  In fact, I bought some material for placemats.  I was a little uncomfortable with the sales people.  Renea and I both signed up for their emails.  Renea wants to take a class with them. 

I was sick most of the day on Wednesday.  I think everything caught up with me.  I couldn’t eat, and I did a lot of sleeping.  I have decided part of my problem is not sleeping well.  Penny usually wakes me up at 2:00, 4:00 and 6:00.  All a.m. times.  I go back to sleep, but it has been interrupted.  So, I decided that when she gets me up at 2:00 I shut the door so she can’t get in.  I know she sits outside the door waiting for me, but at least I can ignore her.  The past two nights have been much better.

By Thursday morning I was much better.  In fact, Thursday morning was my appointment with Dr. Miller to get the results of my lab work, etc.  Seems I have a kidney problem.  My kidneys are working at 80 percent.  He said this is normal for my age.  This is the pits – everything is falling apart because of my age.  Other than that everything is fine.

This morning I filled the hummingbird feeder again.  It was almost completely empty.  The hangar was full of ants so I sprayed that.  The birds won’t eat if the ants are there.  They are back at the feeder again.  I also finally got my other birdfeeders filled with seed.  I know it will take longer for the birds to come back to them.  I will be watching.

NOTE:  After watching the hummingbirds for a few days it seems I have a male and a female.

I also updated my calendar with all my doctor appointments, classes and the Christmas Made In The South Show.  I have a lot of phone calls to make, but I will do them next week.

Yesterday Kevin spent a good part of the morning and evening watering the trees, bushes and plants.  It is really dry around here again.  No rain is predicted until late next week.  We can’t count on any rain because we are usually in the infamous donut hole 😊. 

Today Kevin is working on moving his shed so he can get started building my She Shack, his Opelika Rods Shack and the pontoon book shack.  It’s Rick’s boat.  Not sure where he is putting it.  I will check later.  

Today I have a first!  I know I keep mentioning the Franklin trees, and you are probably getting tired of hearing about them.  Well, this morning I found two blooms on one tree and two more buds.  I am so excited.  Sure didn’t expect that so soon. 

 

I was going to save these placemats until Christmas, but I decided to give two of them to Kevin and Renea and two of them to Brian and Tracy.  One side is the “front” and the other side is the “back.”  Take your pick 😊.  They are for their camper.  These are my first quilted placemats.  I thought the material was appropriate for both couples.

What A Day!

Saturday – what a day.  I was having a bad pain day which I figured was because of the weather.  In the morning we had some rain with some lightning and thunder.  It was my understanding that after that went through there would be no more rain.  So, I went to Mass as usual.  When I came out of church the sky was getting very black.  I decided I better head for home – quickly.  I did stop in Ladonia at Zaxby’s and picked up my supper.  By the time I pulled out of the drive-thru my phone was sending me messages, it was dinging and ringing.  They sky was really black by this time.  Needless to say, I suspected bad weather and drove home rather quickly.  And, I was right!

I no more than got my door open and Kevin called me. He informed me that a tornado was heading our way.  At least close to us.  He suggested I get Penny and get over to their house.  Now, Penny is usually a problem when it comes to getting her into her carrying case so I can take her out.  However, I didn’t give her a chance to run and hide.  When I come in the house she lays on the floor and wiggles so I can pet her.  I reached down and started petting her then just grabbed her.  Next I got her carrying case from sitting next to the back door, halfway opened the one end and basically shoved her inside.  Kevin came over and helped me get her to his house since I was also carrying my purse and supper.  I then spent about an hour and a half over there with Kevin and Renea.  The tornado was close but we were very lucky.  We didn’t get any of the hail either. Yes, I did get to eat my supper while sitting there.

Kevin put Penny, in her carrying case, on the kitchen table.  Of course, the dogs went running up and started smelling her.  She looked at them, and then turned her back and ignored them.  So, the dogs decided to just go back to playing and wrestling.  They ignored her.

Kevin and Renea were keeping in touch with Ryan.  He was getting bombarded with large hail.  The tornado didn’t touch down by him, but it did go over him.  He is fine.  Stephanie was out to dinner with Ray and didn’t even know it was raining.  Renea was worried about her mom because the news was showing the tornado headed for the nursing home where she lives.  All is well there also.

It seems tornado season is upon us.  This will probably be the first of many.  We normally have a pretty active season.  Let us hope that we stay in the “donut hole.”

Yesterday afternoon Kevin took me on a “tour” of the backyard where they new building is going.  It is going to be huge.  One part will be to park Rick’s pontoon book inside, one part will be Kevin’s workshop and the other part will be mine.  We will eventually put a path down so I don’t have to walk in wet grass.

Today I finished getting my quilt ready to take to the quilters.  It is all boxed and ready to go.  I have the bed quilt and a hanging quilt.  I plan to take them with me when I go to the quilters on Tuesday.  I also watched a couple of videos on how to make several items that are not quilts.

Renea called and invited me to Sunday dinner today.  She fixed a pork roast with apple dressing.  One of my favorite meals, and it was delicious.  Ryan was there for supper.  Stephanie and her boyfriend, Ray, were also there for supper.  Ray has an Australian Shepherd dog named Kodiak.  He brought him with them.  So there were four big dogs running around. 

When I came home after supper and entered the house I couldn’t find Penny right away.  She was on top of the pantry cupboard next to the washing machine.  She would not come down.  I assume she was remembering what I did to her the night before, and she was determined it wasn’t going to happen again.  I closed up the house, watched the rest of the NASCAR race, and did some embroidering.  Later I watched a couple of programs I had recorded.  Penny finally came down from the cabinet about nine o’clock.  She still wasn’t sure about me putting her in her carrying case.  She is better this morning.

Since my quilt is ready to go I decided today I should get caught up on a few things around the house and yard.  I finally hung the hummingbird feeder in my front yard.  Not sure I will get any hummingbirds since it is now mid-summer and they probably have already established their feeding stations.  We will see. I purchased two solar post caps for my front deck.  I finally put them where I want them.  I am still putting “stuff” away from my trip to Cincinnati.

I forgot to post these pictures the other day:

The Franklin Trees

The Rose-of-Sharon in front of the deck

The Rose-of-Sharon in front yard by driveway

I guess two out of five isn’t bad.  These are the only two Rose-of-Sharon that survived.

P.S.  I have had two hummingbirds at the feeder already today. 

Just A Lot of Boring Information

I am back to that old saying I am so far behind I thought I was first.  Yet, here I sit at the computer working on my blog.  I just thought it was time to take a break.

I still have boxes of quilting “stuff” stacked up in my living room.  They will probably stay there until I get my she shack.  On my dining room table is my sewing machine, small ironing board and iron, along with the Christmas quilt and supplies I am working on.  Also in my dining room are two tv trays with items stacked on them.  All of which constitutes work.  Then there is my new work table which has quilting items stacked on it which I still have to work to do on them.  Then there is a box of mail and items I brought from Cincinnati and have been throwing in there since I got home.  I really need to go through that.  I also have another stack of books and paperwork stacked on the floor that I need to go through.  I am sure there is some work hidden in there.

I haven’t done any outside work yet.  Thank goodness Ryan pulled the weeds in front of my deck and around the azaleas.  That might not have gotten done until next year.  I have looked around a bit and found that the Franklin trees are doing great.  They are growing and looking healthy. The rose-of-sharon bush is blooming.  This is the one on the front corner of my deck.

The lantanas look beautiful.  I have seen butterflies flitting around and feeding on them. In fact, it looks like all the trees and bushes have survived, even one that I thought had died last year 😊  This includes the two small forsythia “sticks” that I planted in front.  The one hydrangea bush is looking good, but the small one that has been through a rough two years is alive but not very big.  The three tulip poplar trees that we planted in the spring look good.  This includes the one that the deer have been eating the new leaves that grow on the bottom of the trunk.  I did lose my weeping willow that was in the front yard.  Kevin said it snapped during one of the spring storms.  I also lost the golden raintree. 

God Bless Kevin!  He mowed all the grass both front and back.  Now if we would just have some rain.  However, it looks like we will be doing some watering.

I spent all day yesterday working on my Christmas quilt.  I would like to have it ready to go to the quilter by next week.   I have been also working on it this morning. 

Okay, back at the computer.  It is now Friday.  The Christmas quilt is ready to go to the quilter.  I still have to make the binding, but that shouldn’t take too long.  I have also started some embroidery projects that I have to do because they are Christmas presents.  I bought a regular ironing board at Walmart the other day, and it is now sitting next to my work table in the dining room. 

All the suitcases and duffle bags have been emptied and the clothes put away.  However, they are all sitting at my back door waiting to go to the shed.  This also includes Penny’s travel carrying case.  If anyone tries to break into my house, they would kill themselves.  Every door and window has something blocking it. 

Wednesday I went to the dermatologist.  Renea recommended that I call the same one Kevin goes to.  I did.  I really like him.  He froze three spots that were pre-cancer.  One on my ear, one on my nose and one on my cheek below my eye.  He burned a spot on my forehead.  And, he removed two skin tags.  I can now wear my necklace made with my diamond from my engagement ring.  One of the skin tags was right where the necklace laid on my chest and kept getting caught.  Thursday I had bloodwork done.  I am in the process of getting all these doctor things caught up. 

I guess I should get back to doing something constructive.  Back at y’all later.

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

Penny and I have arrived in Alabama.  Brian brought us home last Tuesday.  We arrived about suppertime.  We made really good time. Very little traffic, especially trucks.  We decided to come down Hwy 27 so we wouldn’t have to go thru Atlanta.  That works really well.  It is not expressway, but we have a lot of four lane highway and very few towns.  Kevin and I have been using it for quite a while now.  Won’t be going thru Atlanta if at all possible to avoid!

It took me several days to get everything unpacked.  The house is looking much better.  Still have quite a few boxes with my quilting supplies.  They will be sitting around until Kevin gets the She Shack built.

Ryan painted my living room while I was in Cincinnati.  It had been a dark red.  It is now a light blue.  I really like it. The place looks brighter and the room looks bigger.  Below is a picture of the wall hanging I put together and had quilted while in Cincinnati.  This is one of the items that Rose helped me with.  It looks very pretty against the blue wall.

These pictures are of the first quilt I made.  I really like the way it turned out. The second picture is of the backside of the quilt.

While Brian was here (he stayed for two full days) he helped Kevin with several projects that needed to be done.  One of them was rebuilding the underpinning in the back of my mobile home.  The concrete blocks were falling away.  When they took them out to replace them, they found that the air conditioner drain had been directed under the house and behind the concrete blocks.  They rerouted the a/c drain, poured much concrete, put in a foundation and replaced the concrete blocks.  It should be fine now.

The next big job was the dumping system under Jana’s camper.  It was almost impossible to reach the handles to drain everything and the hoses kept falling apart.  So, they built her a drainage system that should work a lot easier. 

 

Kevin put together my work table for quilting.  It is in my dining room until I get my She Shack built.  I really like it because it is high enough to work without bending over.  Of course, my sewing machine is on the dining room table.  I still need to buy an ironing board.  I have a very small one which is on the dining room table also.  I am thinking of putting it on the work table so I don’t have to bend over.

Yesterday Renea and I went to Auburn to check out a fabric/quilting shop.  We were very disappointed.  They didn’t carry much fabric, and the ladies were not very friendly.  They were so busy talking to some friends in the store that we felt like we were imposing.  Not sure we will go there again.  I did find out that they do quilting.  I found a couple of places in Columbus, GA, that we are going to visit.  One sounds great.

Kevin’s fishing rod business is doing good.  He has made several rods for people and has several more orders.  If you want to check out his website it is:  www.opelikarods.com. 

Ryan also pulled all the weeds in front of my deck and around my azaleas.  Everything looks pretty good.  It has been hot and Kevin has been watering everything.  I do need to feed the azaleas and a few other bushes.  I guess it isn’t too late in the season.  I am hoping to get that done this week.  I also plan to fill my birdfeeders.  The birds probably think I left them, but they will be back.  Ricky, my next door neighbor, told me that the purple martin birdhouses have been busy.  They are on their second nesting. 

Next blog will be a report on the flowers, yards, etc.  I will include a few pictures.

Meanwhile I am working on my Christmas quilt.

Since We Last Met

We have been busy, but I will not go into a lot of detail.  I would hate to bore you.  I’m just trying to get caught up before I head for home.

Jana is doing fine.  She has been to both eye doctors and has been told that everything is just fine.  The surgeon did remind her that it will take a year for her eye to completely heal from the retina surgery.  Her “regular” eye doctor gave her a prescription for glasses so she now has new glasses.  She is driving!  Yea!  She was a terrible passenger.

I am tentatively scheduled to go back to Alabama on 7.10.18.  Brian will be taking me.  I told him we may need a U-Hail-It because I have so much to take back with me. 

We are still going to Frisch’s every Monday.  I have two more Monday’s to go.  We also stop at Barnes and Nobles before we meet the camping group.  I have bought enough books to last a lifetime.  Not only do I have these to take back, but Jana has been reading a lot (since she got her new glasses she is reading almost a book a day) so I have them to take back with me.  As I said I may need a U-Haul-It.

During the month of June we went to lunch at LaRosa’s with Leslie and Arlene (I worked at Green Township with them).  We met Brian, Tracy, Bradley and Brianna at Smokey Bones for supper on night.  We had lunch at Friday’s with Ginger (she went to school with Jana and she is also a friend of mine).  We had lunch at Cheddar’s with Ronnie McGill, and her sister-in-law Mary.  We went to Mark’s for a cookout.  Mark is Renea’s brother.  Kevin, Renea, Brian and Tracy were there along with some of Mark’s friends.  We had supper at Longhorn with Jim, Sharon and Arlene.  They are friends of Jana’s.  She went to school with Sharon and Arlene.  Their friendship has continued.  We went to Nick and Tom’s for supper with Bob, Deborah and Ruby.  Deborah is Jana’s sister-in-law.  She is David’s sister.  Bob is her husband and Ruby is Bob’s mother.  We met Ronnie and Tom and Friday’s for supper.  Tom is Ronnie’s husband.  They have been married for fifty-seven years.  Ronnie is a nickname for Veronica.  Then we met Leslie and Arlene at Ron’s Roost for lunch.  In between Jana and I have been to Skyline a couple of times.  We also went to a new restaurant on Glenmore Avenue for supper twice.  Once with Rose and George.  As you can tell we don’t eat at home very much.  Just breakfast, and a sandwich for lunch or supper – depending on when we go out to eat.

We had a standing “date” with Rose on Tuesday’s at 9:00 a.m. for my quilting lesson.  I had my last one this week.  I feel like I have learned a lot.  She is a good teacher, and I am going to miss her.  I finished two pieces that I took to the quilter.  They turned out great.  I made four really cute placemats that she showed me how to quilt myself.  They are okay.  A couple of the lines are a little crooked.  I have put together an advent calendar which I will be quilting.  This will be totally different than the placemats.  I also took a hanging that had six different “pictures’ on it and cut them apart.  I then put them together and will be quilting them.  Again, they will be quilted differently.  Rose has shown me several different ways to do this quilting when they are pieces that I don’t have to send to a quilter.  However, I have started on a Christmas quilt for my bed. I hope to have it finished by this Christmas.  At the rate it is taking me it might be next Christmas.  I have also made a Christmas wall hanging which is ready to go to the quilter.  I have three places to check out when I get home for quilting.

Now back to the U-Haul-It.  I not only have all of these projects to take back, but I have bought more material for more projects.  I bought a new special steam iron that I can’t wait to use (Rose has one).  I also bought a large table (which can be folded to be smaller) and a large cutting board.  Realistically, I hope all of this fits in Brian’s van.

Oh, by the way, I also bought a new bed for home.  I like the one I bought from here so well that I bought one for Alabama.  Kevin will be picking it up for me before I get home (I hope).  I gave my bed to Stephanie so if he doesn’t pick it up I will be sleeping on the couch.

I think that pretty much catches us up.  I will take pictures of all my projects when I get home.  Today is church and Skyline for supper.  We plan to go to Target to see about a bookcase for Jana.  She is overrun with books and needs another bookcase.  We will probably have to put it together which should be interesting.  LOL

That’s it for now.  Hopefully, I will do a better job on keeping caught up now.

Penny, Mice and Jana

First, I am going to tell you a story about Penny and the mice.  For about ten days Penny would not come downstairs.  We could hear her playing in “mom’s” room, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with us.  We could not figure out why.

One night when I went upstairs to get ready for bed I found her running around mom’s room like crazy.  That’s when I saw it…..a mouse!  Penny was chasing it from one end of the room to the other.  I finally got Penny out of the room leaving the mouse in there.  So, I went downstairs and got two mouse traps from Jana and set them both in the bedroom.  I closed the door so Penny couldn’t get in there.  Sorry to say, when I checked in the morning I had not caught the mouse.  After checking around I figured out where the mouse was coming from.  I closed up the hole with duct tape and reset the traps.  Meanwhile I moved Penny’s food and litter box into my bedroom. 

The next night we set the traps downstairs in the kitchen on the windowsill where Jana has caught mice before.  The first night we caught a mouse!  The second night we caught another mouse!  We have not caught any more even though we have been setting the traps.  Penny is now acting normal – at least normal for a cat.  She is back to running around the whole house. 

Now about Jana.  This past Wednesday she had the surgery on her other eye.  We sure have learned a lot and are still learning.  This healing process if going to take a while.  When we left the Cincinnati Eye Institute she had an enormous patch on her eye.  She was told to keep looking down.  She was told to keep her nose pointing toward the floor.  When we arrived home she was to start using the head rest contraption immediately.  She has to keep her head in there for 45 to 50 minutes out of each hour.  The other ten to fifteen minutes she can use the bathroom, eat, and get up a walk.  However, even doing this she has to keep her head down.  When she went to bed that night she had to sleep on her side and keep her head pointing down. 

Thursday morning we went to see the eye surgeon.  The nurse took the patch off her eye.  Then she checked her eye, and another eye doctor checked her eye.  Finally, her surgeon came in and thoroughly checked her eye.  He also gave us all of her instructions.  As of Friday night she doesn’t have to use the head rest any longer.  However, she has three eyedrops to use.  Two of them she uses four times a day.  One of them she uses six times a day.  We are keeping a chart.  (She is still using two drops in her other eye for the next two weeks.)  The drops in her eye that had the retina repaired will need drops for at least six weeks. 

He also explained to us that he put a bubble of gas in her eye which floats around and put pressure on the hole in the retina to close it.  This will remain in her eye for four to six weeks.  Eventually, it will disappear.  Meanwhile, it will be an aggravation as far as her sight is concerned.  No pain – just aggravation. 

They did not put a new patch on her eye.  Now she just puts one on at night so she doesn’t rub her eye.  She still has to sleep on her side for two to four weeks. 

The other bit of information he told us was that it will take up to a year for her eye to completely correct itself.  We aren’t sure what that means as far as glasses are concerned, but I am sure we will find out.  For now she just has a black eye.  The last thing he told us before we left is that she is doing excellent!

She goes back to the eye surgeon next Thursday.  I am sure we will get more instructions then.

Here and There News

First, the HERE NEWS.  Jana is doing fine.  She has been to the eye doctor and he said the eye is healing just fine. She has been faithful with her eye drops, and I think that is part of the reason she is doing so good.  She cannot wear her old glasses, but he suggested she get a pair of reading glasses.  So, she bought a pair at Walgreen’s and they are working just fine.  She had to get used to them, but now she can read and do other close-up tasks.  She can see far away pretty good. 

Once she has surgery on her left eye, everything should improve.  She has that surgery next Wednesday.  Then, most everything comes to a stop for a short time.  Monday we are going to pick up her chair that she will need to use for at least a few days after surgery.  I will take a picture.  It’s a chair where she has to keep her face looking down for 45 minutes of every hour that she is awake.  This should be interesting 😊

Last Saturday Samantha graduated from UC as a Radiology Technician.  Jana and I were not able to go to her graduation.  We attended a Memorial Service for Jana’s goddaughter who passed away a short time ago.  After the service was a small reception.  We were able to attend Mass afterward.

Sunday was a party for Samantha for her graduation, and a going away party.  She is leaving this Wednesday to join Brandon in Virginia.  He is in the Navy and stationed in Norfolk.  A few weeks ago Brian and Samantha went to Norfolk and met with Brandon to find an apartment.  By the way, Brandon surprised Samantha and came home for her graduation and both parties.  This week she passed her registration test as an RT so she now plans to look for a job in Norfolk.  We wish her and Brandon the best of everything. 

Monday we made our weekly trip to Frisch’s and Barnes and Noble.   Other than that we didn’t do much except run a few errands to pick up some things so we wouldn’t have to do much running after her surgery.  We took Mattie to the vet for her checkup.  Jana is supposed to put her on a diet (LOL) because she is overweight.  We also picked up Jana’s eyedrops (prescription) for her next surgery. 

Now for the THERE NEWS.  Kevin sent me a couple of pictures this week of things happening in Alabama.   

I had a weeping cherry tree in my front yard.  It was the saddest tree I have ever seen.  It would get one or two flowers on it in the spring.  Very few branches had leaves. I tried “feeding” it, and that did not help at all.  So, we talked it over before I left and decided it should be cut down.  He did this last week and sent me a picture.

 

The three Franklin trees I planted in containers and kept them in front of my deck have survived the winter.  I am so excited.  We had so much trouble with them the first year we tried growing them.  They all died.  So, we tried to do it this way and I think we succeeded.

Kevin now has a “portable” watering tank.  He got this to collect rain water so we could water the trees, plants, etc. Of course, it hasn’t rained since he got the watering tank.  I have been told that my water bill “might” be a bit high this month. 

Kevin, Renea and a few of their friends are on a four day Disney Cruise now.  I hope they have a good time.  I think Stephanie went with them, but I’m not sure.  Rebekah (sp?) is dog sitting since I am in Ohio. 

P.S.  I finally finished my bird towels that I was embroidering.

P.P.S.  I also took my first quilting class this week.  Jana has a friend named Rose (Rose and George (her husband) and Jana and David all camped together and remained friends.  Rose and George also go to St. Al’s where we go to church.  She is an awesome quilter and has convinced me that I can do it.  We shall see. I will keep you updated.