Best Laid Plans

 

Did you ever have one of those days where you didn’t accomplish all you had set out to?  That was my day yesterday. 

 

My morning went according to plan.  We took our lab Abby back for her post-surgical follow up; the vet took her stitches out and said that she was healing nicely.  She did mention that the kind of skin cancer that Abby had was very, very rare in labs.  I laughed when I heard that – nothing, absolutely nothing, is normal about that dog (she doesn’t listen, she is so easily excited, she hates to get wet – to the point where she doesn’t want to go potty when it’s raining). 

 

We then went for my eye exam.  Turns out both prescriptions have changed – distance and close.  That means time to order new glasses.  Thank God for vision insurance … I’d hate to think what my glasses would cost me if I didn’t have insurance (especially since DH had to get a new pair of glasses a couple of weeks ago)!  Yikes! 

 

It was AFTER my eye exam that my plan for the days fell apart.  I forgot how long it took for eyes to “un-dilate”.  Instead of working on my new quilt, reading for tonight’s small group meeting or getting outside in the sunny warm weather, I had to sit inside, with the blinds drawn nursing a post-eye exam headache.    I did get a little laundry done, so my afternoon wasn’t completely wasted … but laundry is no fun, especially when I had something a lot more fun/enjoyable that I would have rather done!   

 

 

In case any of you are interested in my fabric choices for my blue and white Irish Chain quilt, here’s a picture of one of my strips (forgive the picture quality – I took this late in the afternoon with my iPhone).    I’ll sub-cut this so that I’ll have rows of 3 blocks sewn together – a white, blue and white.  I’ve repeated this with a strip of white with blue strips on either side, so that when it’s sub-cut, I’ll have rows of blue, white and blue blocks.  Those rows will be sewn together to form the 9-patch block portion of my Irish Chain. 

My Irish chain will look like this (except it will, of course, be blue and white):

 

 

This afternoon, I get to have 2 Ts over … Mama and the 2 older Ts have got friends coming over, so the 2 littlest ones will come here for naptime.   

The Weekend Wrap-up

 

 

Another weekend has flown by.  Even though I’m retired, it seems like the weekends just fly by. 

 

Friday I finished up my quilt.  I got the binding on and stitched back, the quilt washed and used!  It’s 60x70, so it’s a good-sized lap quilt.  And with my Raynaud’s, I’m always cold so that quilt will be well used.

 

I started cutting strips for my blue and white Irish chain quilt Saturday.  I decided to do 2 1/2” strips so my blocks will finish at 6”.  I don’t expect this quilt to work up as quickly because it will be a bed-sized quilt and I plan to do more quilting on it (including fancier quilting in the plain white blocks).  We spent a good chunk of the afternoon visiting with our neighbors next door and spent the evening working on a new puzzle. 

 

On Sunday we stopped to get our pictures taken for our passport applications on our way home from church.  After lunch I got a start on sewing together a few of those strips I cut on Saturday.  I’ve got a ways to go … like I said, this quilt won’t go together as quickly as the one I just finished.  I tried a new recipe for dinner … it was good, but I doubt if I’ll make it again. 

Friday Randomness

• Now that the baseball season is over, we’ve sprung for the Blockbuster Total Access – home delivery.  We’ve been getting caught up on our movie watching.  We refuse to pay what movie theaters (aka “movie-aters” per T#3) charge these days, and with a DVD, we can turn on the closed captioning and turn up the volume so DH can hear.  Now if I could just remember all the movies I’ve been wanting to see over the last year or so. 

• I’ve been taking 1000 mg of Vitamin C this winter, and so far (praise God!) I’ve been free of any colds/URIs.  And it’s not like I haven’t been exposed to any germs (thanks to the Ts, who definitely make germ exposure so worth it!   ). 

• I finished hand quilting my latest quilt.  Today I will cut the strips for the binding and get that sewn on.  And then it will be time to start cutting strips and blocks for my blue and white Irish chain.  That means I’ll be sequestered in the 3rd bedroom/sewing room … but there’s a TV and DVD player in there, and I can move my laptop in there, too. 

• We booked our cruise.    Now we’re working on our passport applications. 

• Not sure why … even now that I’m retired, I still find myself looking forward to the weekends. 

• There’s snow in the forecast … but not very much … an inch if we’re lucky, probably significantly less than that.   

Thankful Thursday

Another week has flown by, and it’s time to stop and take some time to be intentionally thankful.

This week, I want to be especially thankful for:

• Good results from our Abby’s surgery … while the tumor was cancerous, they were able to remove it all and get good margins. 

• Time spent with my Ts … whether it’s a couple of hours like last night or most all of the day like today, these times make my heart sing.

• Peaceful, quiet mornings … since I’ve retired, I find myself getting up at about the same time that I did when I was working … I love those first hours of the day, when everything is quiet and peaceful.

• Good books that encourage and uplift me … one of my goals for 2012 was to read more faith-building books, and I’m about 2/3 of the way through Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are and a line that stuck with me is

Feel thanks and it’s absolutely impossible to feel angry.  We can only experience one emotion at a time.  And we get to choose – which emotion do we want to feel?

I pray that I will remember that I get to choose which emotion I feel … and that I will choose thankfulness.

Waiting

We’ve been having some trouble with our “on-demand” feature of our cable service.  When trouble-shooting it over the phone didn’t fix the problem, we had to schedule an appointment with one of their tech guys.  He got here earlier this morning, and of course he couldn’t find anything wrong with our signal.  That means that it’s time to replace the receiver.  Of course, the tech guy didn’t have a new receiver in his truck, so he had to go back to the office to get one.  That meant that I had to sit here and wait.  Why is it that I’m perfectly content any other time to sit at home and quilt or read … but when I know that I have to stay home and wait for an appointment, no - that’s when I want to get out or start something that I don’t want to have to stop in the middle of when the tech guy arrives (hence the delay in getting this posted).

We’re still waiting for the lab results on our Abby’s tumors.  She’s healing nicely, and she seems to be in good health … other than the arthritis in her hips (she is 12 after all) and her IBS.  But I can’t help but be concerned about those tumors.

And we’re waiting for our Spring Training trip.  We’ve booked our motel, and we’ve purchased our tickets (which we’re waiting for, too … they should be here next week).  I'm ready to start packing *now*. 

I don’t like waiting … patience is not something that comes to me easily … but I am learning to live in the now, instead of focusing on what I’m (not so patiently) waiting for.  For that, I am thankful.

The Weekend Wrap-up

It wasn’t the most exciting weekend ever here at Chez Nana, but in my world, it doesn’t have to be exciting to be good. 

We had dinner with DD’s in-laws Friday evening.  It had started to rain just before we left, and cars in the parking lot of the restaurant were already ice covered.  We had a nice dinner and got more insight on planning our cruise – but the best part was the phone call from DSIL that he arrived home safely from his training in Chicago (through the ton of snow that the Chicagoland area got and through the ice we got here).  It was very definitely very icy by the time we got home. 

The roads were fine Saturday … and that was a good thing, because I got to watch the 2 littles while Mama, Daddy and the 2 bigger Ts went out for a night of bowling and pizza.  We watched Beauty and the Best … I’d forgotten how long it’d been since I’d seen that … it was almost like watching a new movie! 

We woke up to a light fog Sunday morning … one that hung around all day ... thankfully it wasn’t heavy enough to keep us from getting out and going to church.  We watched Courageous … what a good movie.  A thunderstorm moved through the area at around bedtime … this weekend started with weird weather and ended with weird weather. 

I didn’t get much quilting done this weekend , so that’s on my agenda for today.  We have small group tonight (our first meeting with our new-to-us group) … I’m excited. 

Friday Fragments

It’s definitely winter here.  After some warmer weather earlier in the week, it’s turned *cold* again.  As if the *cold* weather isn’t enough, it’s been overcast and dreary.  But no snow … a little snow would be a nice reward for enduring cold, dreary weather, don’t you think?  We do have some wintery weather coming this evening … unfortunately, it’s of the icy variety, not snow. 

Abby (our Labby) continues to do well.  She’s a sight … with shaved spots and stitches on her head and neck (and leg for the IV).  She could audition for the part of Frankenstein’s dog!

Thank God … DD has been released to resume her normal activity.  I know what a relief that must be to her.

We’re going to have dinner tonight with DD’s in-laws to get some advice/recommendations/info on cruising.  DH and I will celebrate a milestone anniversary this December, and we’d like to celebrate it with a cruise to the Caribbean next January (beautiful beaches, blue water and warm weather).  We’ve never cruised before (we always thought cruising would be way too expensive, but it looks like we can cruise for not much more than we can do a land vacation … and trust me, we travel on a budget) … my online research has presented way more options/choices than I know what to do with.   

I’m making good progress on hand quilting my quilt.  I’ve got 30 of the 42 blocks quilted, and it won’t take too long to finish it.  I bought the fabrics for my next quilt … a two-color blue and white Irish chain.

Thankful Thursday

 

 

Another Thursday, and another opportunity to express my thankfulness.

 

I’m thankful for:

 

• Our dog coming through her surgery ok.  After a rough night (between the anesthetic and the stress of the day, she didn’t have the greatest evening), she’s back to normal this morning.  She goes back in 10 days to get the stitches removed … in the meantime, we’ll be waiting for the biopsy results.

 

• My home sweet home.  I enjoyed my visit to see my dad … and to get in a little beach time.  But there really is no place like home. 

 

• Lazy mornings.  I used to be quite the night owl, although now I’m wondering how much of it was by necessity … when working full time, the only way I was going to be able to get everything done and to have any time to relax and do the things I enjoy doing would be to stay up late.  Now that I’m retired, I find myself getting up at about the same time I did when I was working … but I’m not sure that I’m ready to proclaim that I’m a morning person … I’m definitely not ready to get going on my day for a couple of hours.  I find myself relishing those lazy starts to  my day.

 

• A new small group.  I’m excited about the prospect of being able to fellowship and study, of being able to develop close relationships.  I can’t wait for Monday!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

It’s Hodgepodge time again! 
1. A new Miss America was crowned on Saturday night-did you watch? If you were a contestant what would your talent be?
No, I didn’t watch it.  I don’t have any talent that would win me any points in any beauty pageant. 
 
2. Do you have houseplants? Real or fake?
I have a couple of artificial houseplants, including a fake ficus tree that needs to go (too much trouble to dust all. those. leaves.).  I also have a couple of real plants in the house, three if you count the hibiscus that we bring in to winter in the basement.
 
3. When you were in school did you speak up or were you more of the hide your face, avoid eye contact, and pray the teacher didn't call on you type of student?
I enjoyed school, so I would raise my hand … except in science class.  Never did do well in science.
 
4. Next Monday marks the Chinese New Year...what do you order when someone suggests Chinese food?
Crab Rangoon and hot braised chicken. 
 
5. How would you define a miracle? What would it take for you to consider something a miracle?
A miracle is something that happens as a result of God’s power.  I think sometimes we fail to see the miracles that happen around us. 
 
6. What's your favorite Disney song? If you're stuck you'll find a list here.
It’s got to be something from Beauty and the Beast, right?  I mean since they’ve been running commercials for it and since Joyce mentioned that she saw it, it’s got to be Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast! 

 
7. I should have _____________ yesterday.
Exercised. 
 
8. Insert your own random thought here.
Winter is back.  The high yesterday (early morning before the storms moved in) was 68 … the low was in the teens … an almost 50-degree drop in temperatures. 

Tuesday Morning Trivia

If you remember, we joined a new small group last fall when our church did the Not a Fan study.  We hosted a small group here; you may remember that I was concerned about the leader chosen for our small group was the husband of a former BFF.  My fears about being in a group with her were unfounded, but the group never seemed to “take off”.  We lost 4 members after the first week (the meeting time didn’t work).  Our leader preferred not to meet whenever we weren’t all able to make the meeting, so as you can imagine, that led to a lot of missed meetings.  It didn’t take long before we just weren’t meeting … I thought that perhaps once we got past Christmas, we’d resume meeting.  The two Thursdays after Christmas, we sat here waiting … and no one showed … no one bothered to let us know that they were not coming.    So after some discussion we are disbanding our group.  Thankfully, another group is continuing to meet and had asked us a month or so ago to join their group; we are now free to join this group.  I have been unhappy with our church for some time … in our desire to grow and reach out to newcomers/new believers, we seem to have forgotten the long-time members.  I regularly expressed my desire for small groups for those in their 50’s-60’s, offering to host a group.  Groups were established for the younger adults … nothing for us older folk.  I pray that this group we’ll be joining will provide the fellowship and opportunity for growth that I’ve been missing. 

After balmy temperatures yesterday (the high was 68!), we are having a return to winter today.  A major storm moved through the area overnight, and temperatures are plummeting today.  Maybe I should have stayed with my dad a little longer.  ha!

I was able to get some more hand quilting done last night.  The hand quilting is my favorite part of quilting. 

Our dog “goes under the knife” tomorrow.  Right before Christmas, we noticed a small open sore on the side of her neck.  We couldn’t figure how she could have hurt herself, but we had the vet take a look at it.  Turns out it was a small tumor … the vet cleaned it up and we all hoped that it would “heal” up on its own.  Unfortunately it didn’t and has gotten a little bigger, so a couple of weeks ago we scheduled surgery to remove it.  

The Weekend Wrap-up

Another weekend has come and gone, and unlike most of my weekends, this one was packed!

Early Friday morning (or better, in the middle of the night Thursday night), I got up to head to the airport.  We’re about 45 minutes from the St. Louis airport, but with the snow and ice we had on Thursday, we left a little earlier than we would otherwise since we didn’t know what shape the roads would be in.  I’d rather have a little time to kill at the airport than risk missing my flight, even though that meant a 3 AM wake up.    As it turned out, the roads were fine and I had a little more time than I needed … which I used to grab a bagel and have breakfast at the airport. 

I got into Pensacola by 10:30, and my sister arrived at 11:30.  We stopped at my favorite Pensacola restaurant … a little seafood “dive” known only to the locals.  We spent the afternoon at my dad’s condo on the beach. 
There usually aren’t many shells along that stretch of beach, but this year there were plenty … so many that I couldn’t safely pack them in my carry-on, so my dad will bring them back when he returns the first of March.  After dinner, we played Rook.



Saturday we wanted to drive over to Johnson Beach, a national park that is part of the US National Seashore and is the highlight of each trip I make to that part of the Gulf.  The pristine, unblemished beach at Johnson Beach is simply breathtaking … and these photos from last year’s trip just doesn’t do it justice.




Unfortunately, my dad failed to pack his National Park membership card so we drove over to Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge to obtain a temporary replacement card … unfortunately,  the office was closed.  It was a nice drive so it wasn’t a total loss.  Our afternoon was a repeat of Friday’s – beach time and Rook.

Sunday morning was another repeat – more beach time and more Rook.  In my world, you can just never have too much beach time!    Before we knew it, it was time to leave for the airport.  By the time I got back home (just before midnight), I was exhausted.