Wasn't able to get online yesterday, not that I had anything to say anyway. Our wireless router (that's what SH called it) went kaput. He picked up a new one on the way home from work. So all is right with cyberworld again.
Has the world gone crazy or what? Stock markets falling like rocks off a cliff all over the world, banks going bankrupt, our government giving money to companies who spent theirs foolishly and are unapologetic about it (I spent the money for my failed yarn business wisely and you can bet if I'd asked for help they'd have laughed at me), presidential candidates not worthy of the office. Ah! No wonder I'm feeling so down of late. Trying to be positive about things, but the world is not making it easy for me.
Why do you read this blog? I have 18 subscribers. That's 18 people who care enough about what I'm writing to actually subscribe to it. Why? What is it about my blog that has your interest? I'm just wondering, because I am so surprised. Please tell me in the comments why you read my blog?
The last couple days have been very hard for me. I shot right into withdrawal symptoms, most likely from the prescription pain killers. Normally, the length of time I took them would not cause such a reaction in others, but my body is super sensitive to these things, so it's been punishing me. I've been dealing with the shakes, sweating hot then shivering cold, complete loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and emotional basketcase. (I cried like the world was coming to an end when the router toasted-even though I didn't really care one way or the other.) Oh yes, and the floating head-which is the way my head has been feeling, like it's not actually attached to my neck. So much fun!
The good news is, my ankle is back! The swelling is going down faster. The grapefruit lump on my thigh is now the size of a tangerine, and the pain has eased up quite a bit. I am still walking to the mailbox each day, and yesterday I made myself load the dishwasher. Standing for any length of time is excruciating, but each time I do it, it makes it easier the next time. I am determined to get over this situation.
Television has become unbearable. It's October. Nothin' but horror movies on now. I'm not a horror movie fan, so I've been seeking other things to watch, or at least have on as background noise, during the day, and I am so disappointed. I mean...who watches Bridezilla? Celebrity Hair Secrets? Phantom Gourmet? (I tried watching Judge Judy. Are people really that stupid?) And just how many channels can show 100's of Law and Order reruns at the same time? I'm not saying these are bad shows, necessarily. I'm just wondering why they are repeated over and over and over ad nauseum each day? I think of all the tv series that were on 20 years ago that are never rerun that I would so enjoy seeing again, and wonder why they aren't shown. I'd love to see the Ellery Queen Series with Jim Hutton again. Chico and the Man, Welcome Back Kotter, Remington Steele-just to name a couple. How many have I forgotten about that would be fun to see? Sigh.
Still stitching. I've got the flower almost done. Working on the leaves around it now. I'm thinking about starting a pair of socks. I really need to get serious about some Christmas knitting. It's already October. Goodness, where has the year gone?
Did I mention the problem we've been having with the dogs? Ever since I got back from the hospital, they have been peeing in the house all over the place-even though the doggy door has been open 24 hours a day. I have, until recently, been unable to clean it up, which leaves SH with the icky task. He has not been happy. I have not been happy. What in the heck is wrong with these guys? Why are they doing this? Anyway, 3 days ago I started opening the door to let them outside on occasion instead of SH (making myself walk to the door and back is a good task) or just depending on the doggy door. Suddenly, the indoor peeing has stopped. DON'T tell me that's the answer. They must have ME open the door, instead of Dad? Oh, for Petes sake! Give me a break! I am so wishing I didn't have dogs at the moment. This will pass though, I'm sure.
When one is confined to laying around with their leg up on pillows for days on end, one tends to think about things. I need to declutter my house. That is all there is to it. We have so much stuff sitting around that we once used regularly but don't even look at now. Like the manuals to the software that I had on my old 386 PC. I don't even have that PC anymore. Why do I need to hold onto the manuals? And the color laser printer sitting on the floor by the piano. It's been sitting there for 2 years-because I don't know where else to put it. It doesn't work, but could easily be repaired. So my thrifty recycling self wants me to keep it for some reason even though I have NO intention of getting it repaired. I see trips to the Goodwill and dump in our future-once I'm well enough to do it.
Enough of this. Have a great day.
I had intended to post this yesterday, but obviously didn't manage to do it. So I will post it today.
In my last post I talked about getting out one of my unfinished counted cross stitch projects and working on it. I have done that. I'm just not in the mood for knitting and beading this week. The hardest battle I've been fighting since becoming afflicted with the blood clot of doom is the mental battle. Trying to stay positive is hard for me because I'm naturally a half glass empty kinda girl. Counted cross stitch is the ultimate stress releaser for me. I have to concentrate totally on it, whereas with knitting and beading my thoughts can wander all over the place. So, I need to focus the thoughts away from the bad things, and this is how I'm doing it. It's working.
This picture is called
Dogwood & Hummingbird. It's based on a painting by Canadian artist
Sue Coleman. I love her paintings. Most of them feature Pacific Northwest animals, and have the northwest Indian symbol for that animal in them.
The cross stitch patterns are available through her own stitching business called
The Stitching Studio. As you can see above, I only have part of one flower and one bird left to do, and the blue background. I'm stitching the picture on a piece of 28 count evenweave Lugana fabric in a butter yellow. I'm stitching over 2 threads, and using DMC cotton floss. I started this picture a couple years ago. I really need to finish it.
The weather prediction for today is 20% possible snow showers. I don't think it's going to go that far, but it is pretty chilly outside. There are grey clouds scudding across the sky, but we get bits of sunshine every so often. We got a hard frost last night, so the flowers are done for the year.
I walked to the mailbox and back yesterday afternoon. That is quite an accomplishment. And I did it without painkillers. Yes, I have taken myself off the brain muddling meds. I'm not without pain now, but it's at a level I can put up with. I can't stand the prescription pain killers. They so mess up my brain, and they give me bad dreams. I had a very peaceful nights sleep last night. I see light at the end of the dark tunnel I've been in. Now, to make sure I don't
OVER do it!
Have a great day!
When I was a little girl blackberries grew wild by the tons around where I lived. Every summer my sisters and I would pick buckets of these large black juicy sweet berries for my Mom and she would make the best blackberry jam in the universe. I miss that jam of hers so much. Like I said, it was the best in the universe.
I have finished making a beaded Christmas ornament cover.
The colors I chose for this cover remind me of lemonade and my mothers blackberry jam. I used gold lined matte pale yellow seed beads in sizes 8 and 11, silver lined dark red violet seed beads in sizes 8 and 11, some 3mm round gold beads, 4mm yellow a/b fire polished crystals, and some small daggers.
The techniques used in this pattern are right angle weave, netting, and loop fringe. Here's a detail close up.
Here's a close up of the fringe. I tend to be a little tight on my fringe, and I see I still have this problem.
This is not an original design on my part. It's a pattern by
Cathy Lampole called
Faith Victorian Ornament Cover. It can be purchased as a PDF file on the
Sova-Enterprises web site. I did do a couple substitutes on the beads. I don't have any 3mm crystals in an appropriate color, so I substituted the size 8 seed beads instead. I also did not have enough 4mm crystals, so I used the daggers in the fringe instead.
Aside from finishing this project, I have not been beading or knitting. I needed to find something that really occupies my mind in order to deal with the frustration of being so limited in my movement and whatnot, so I have dug out a counted cross stitch project that I started a couple years ago or so and I'm working on finishing that. I plan to take photos and post them tomorrow.
I learned how to do counted cross stitch when I owned my shop, the House of Needlecraft. When I bought the shop it was already very well stocked with the supplies for this craft. In fact, it was about 1/3rd of my business. So I learned how to do it so I could more accurately understand the needs of my cross stitching customers. My employee, Sally, was an excellent stitcher and taught me very well (Actually, she still is an excellent stitcher). I ended up getting totally hooked on the craft. Haven't done much of it the last couple years though. I've got about half a dozen unfinished projects that I really should attempt to finish some time.
I am still healing-v e r y s l o w l y. I can walk a bit more. They have my blood thinned to where it's supposed to be now, so I don't have to go in for blood tests quite as often. But the darn swelling is still there. I'm getting impatient waiting for it to go away.
It rained all night last night, but now it is a very windy, but sunny day today. The wind is just howling out there, 30 to 40 mph. Kind of scary. It's also kind of chilly around here. I finally broke down and turned the furnace on yesterday. Summer is over. Autumn is here.
Have a great day.
Knitters & Hookers
