Easter Weekend

It has been the best weekend.  Steph is leaving for the UK in a few days, and she has her first resident visa, so it's going to be a while before she is home again.  She is promising to come for Cade and Bethany's wedding, but that is 13.5 months from now.  It's happy and sad.

Matt and Heather came down Friday night, and came over for supper and hung out until late.  We finished putting together a jigsaw puzzle that Steph has been working on for a while, and it was fun.  the kids ran all around the house and watched some movies and it was so nice having them here.  Colesen took a drink of my coke and rum and said "beer".  and then tried to drink it all.

Cade and Beth and Carson came on Saturday morning, and it's been so much fun having them here.  it was Bethany's first time seeing the new house.  We all went out to Floyd in the morning to ride the horses.  Cory needed a video of George because he is trying to sell him, because he just bought BlackJack.  So we took the videos of George, and Cory rode him around for a while.  Cade rode one of the donkeys, which was great.  He could barely keep his feet up off the ground, and the donkey was so mad.  She stood next to the fence and pouted for an hour after he got off.

Lamasigh was saddled up, and Cade and Carson and Beth all rode some combination of the horses.  Cade said he was like Zoolander, because he couldn't turn left.  Everybody else could turn left on the same horse, but not Cade.  We played Yakety Sax for a minute while he was riding, and it was perfect.

When we came back to the house, Cory had to run to Clovis for a gun.  I got another puzzle because Beth said she loved puzzles when she saw the one we finished on Friday night.  So Cade and Carson took naps on the sofa while Steph, Beth and I sat at the card table and did a puzzle.  Cade helped out with it some, but telling us how much he hated puzzles the whole time.  Carson was watching Lord of the Rings, and he went off on a whole thing about how he prefers two-legged dragons to four-legged dragons.  He just finds them more aesthetically pleasing, and it seems like a four-legged dragon trying to fly would be like flying a 747 with the landing gear down.  And he'd really like to see the 'Lord of the Rings - 200 years later' movie.  With airplanes and stuff, when the Orcs would be working in the mines, and the Elves are running everything.

Later when we had some grilled chicken to munch on for supper, Beth got to talking about the way Cade teases her and makes her believe stupid things.  He will say things so seriously, and sound so convincing, and then when you ask if he is serious he will say no while acting like he's saying yes.  He says that once her shower wasn't draining well, so he told her she needed a shower snake.  She says "Shower snake?" so he immediately says "yeah, there's a breed of snake that you can get at Walters, or at most hardware stores.  They go into the drain when you put them in the shower, and then they can't turn around, so they eat all the hair in the drain so they can get out." and Beth says "...I don't really want to put a snake in my shower...."

She says she keeps a list of the times he tries to do that to her.  Like the time she was looking at the thermometer just as they passed the state line, and it changed by a degree, and Cade tried to convince her that it changes at the state line like the time does.

when they were on a cruise with her family, her mother wonders aloud how fast they are going.  Cade says, "And there are oil derricks everywhere.  So I say 'that's easy.  Just hold your arm straight out until you're even with the oil derrick, and then start counting seconds."  So Beth's mom and brother are standing there on the deck holding their arms out, counting seconds.  So Cade says "Okay, so eight seconds.  Now multiply that by 12.5" and he shows how they screw up their faces, thinking, and he says "102,  Now, divided that  by Pi" (or something, I don't remember what he really used) and they think, and he says "32.  so we're going 32 miles an hour."  And they are all amazed, and he explains that he learned that in the Boy Scouts.  And Beth is standing behind them shaking her head.  When Beth tells them he is full of crap, her Mom says "But did you really learn cool stuff in the Boy Scouts?"  and he has to admit he was never in the Boy Scouts.  We laughed so hard that it hurt.

Beth told us horror stories about baby names.   Like K'Lia.  When they asked the mom how to spell that (while filling out the birth certificate) she says "K, then a 'high comma', L I A."  "I'm sorry.  what?  K what?"  "High comma."  "You mean an apostrophe?'  "Yeah, high comma."

And the baby named (phonetically)  Absody (spelled) Abcde.

It was just awesomely fun and wonderful to have them here. :)

Also, apparently Preslie now tells everybody that she loves Harry Potter and wants him to sleep in her bed.

Quilt update

So I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago, but then I guess I didn't save it, which about the way things are going these days.

I was saying how I noticed that it had been a year since I started the post about the quilt, and I haven't made much progress.  Of course, I have had surgery and a granddaughter and a son's wedding and all that since then, but still not much progress.

But I was inspired to do some work on the quilt.  I remember laying in bed thinking about it, and thinking I was done with the four big squares and I needed to figure out how to do the flying geese and combine them all together.  Then I went and got out all my stuff, and realized that I wasn't finished with the four squares.  I was finished with three squares, and I still had to finish the fourth one.

So I got all the squares matched up and sewed them together.  All 123 of them.  And I ironed them all out nice and flat and I was feeling awesome about it.  Then I laid the new square beside the other three squares and stopped feeling awesome.  They weren't the same size!  My new square is a good two inches bigger each direction.  OMG.  How did that even happen?  I didn't do 1/4" seams on the other squares?  Geez louise.  So I put it up and wrote a blog post and forgot to save it.

So today I decided to work on it again.   I just didn't have it in me to do that big square again, so I decided to do some flying geese and do the big square later.  So I figured out how to do it, and made one test one, then cut some more material and made a few more.  Ironed down the first squares and started to sew them together, and the needle fell out of my machine.

I've tried to put it back and I've tried a different needle, but I can't make it work. 

I'm going to read a book now.  I think I still know how to do that.

Under the sink

I don't know why he looked under the sink.  It is one of the mysteries of life, but he looked, and now we know.  We know about the leak, so now it must be fixed. 

Something looked wet, so he moved things out of the way and then he moved more things out of the way, and then he yanked up all the insulation foam that he sprayed around the pipes when he remodeled the kitchen, and there was a wet hose.

So I handed him paper towels, and he dried off the hose, and then he twisted a handle that I'm assuming should have turned off the water to that hose.  But it didn't do that.  No, it didn't do that.  I'm not totally sure what happened, and I'm not going to ask, but he said "Motherfucker!" and I could hear water spraying.

I couldn't SEE the water spraying, for which I am grateful, but there was water spraying under the cabinet and he had to go outside and turn off the water.

That made my next words somewhat anticlimactic, "Supper is ready", I say, almost apologetically.  I mean, I've been simmering beans for hours and I made some buttermilk cornbread and fried potatoes, but somehow the leak under the house makes that less awesome than it could have been in a leak-less kitchen.

But he ate, after saying there was no way he could fix this tonight.  So he ate.  And he sat down for probably all of two minutes.  Then he went outside with a shovel.  It's dark and chilly out there, but he doesn't wait when something is wrong.  It's not in his genes.

So he dug a hole, presumably; (I haven't gone outside to look, I'm just guessing what is going on my the sounds and my context clues).  He came back in the house and said "It's been leaking a while, by the looks of it." And he went back out.  Then he came back in with very muddy hands.  And he didn't say anything.

Nerve-ous ranting

Holy motherfucking fucking fuck this hurts.  I'm trying really hard not to be a whiny complainer; nobody wants to hear this stuff.  I'm even tired of hearing about it.  But DAMN, it just doesn't stop.  The surgery and the time in the hospital is mostly a blur; things didn't go awfully well for me.  I guess the surgery took about eight hours, and then the Doctor couldn't get the bleeding to stop; they had to give me blood three times.  Then I couldn't move my left leg for long enough that they were on their way with me to MRI and go back into surgery, but I started moving it, so that was good.

They left me in ICU an extra day, and then I got up and moved around a couple of times, and then I developed a pulmonary embolism and had to stay in bed for two more days without walking.  By the way, that's one of my worst fears, the pulmonary embolism.  That is what killed my Grandmother; she went into surgery to have her gallbladder out, got clots and died.  So I've always had this fear when I go into surgery.  Now it happened, but it was okay.  But I'm going to be uber terrified if I ever have to have surgery again.  And now I have to take blood thinners.

Anyway, hospital for way longer than planned, a brief stop at a nursing home which was HORRIBLE!  ugh.  But then home, and the pain.  The incision and the numb places and the muscles that got shoved around; my bones are in different places and it was hard to walk and it made everything hurt.  Hips hurt, knees hurt, ankles hurt...but that didn't really take that long to get bearable.  I mean, that was all basically what I expected and I had pain pills and I slept as much as possible and Cory and Steph took wonderful care of me.

But now the nerves in my left foot are regenerating.  I think I'd be okay with a numb left foot instead of doing this.  I am having a hard time handling this.  The pills I have don't touch nerve pain; the Doctor gave me another pill that helps some, but it's one of those epilepsy/anti-seizure meds and it makes me dizzy and weak.  And it only helps a little.  Of course, it has to build up in my body; it's not a pain pill that works right away.  But it should be built up now and it still only helps some.  I can't sleep.  The pain is worse when I lay down, and it gets worse when I'm tired, so it's this vicious circle jerk that may never stop.  I suppose at some point I'll get so exhausted I'll sleep.  right?  (btw, it is currently 4:20 a.m....I've been awake for two hours after sleeping for about four hours)

I just took a pain pill and a muscle relaxer hoping it will knock me out; and also my ankles are killing from all the floor pacing I've been doing. 


(days later....)  I was typing the lovely rant above, and I hit a button on my computer and lost it, couldn't find it.  Started typing it again, lost it...decided it wasn't meant to be and gave it up.  But then later I figured it was saved as a draft and sure enough, there it was.  Anyway....I'm better now.  Still having some pain in my foot, but it isn't unbearable.  The dr gave me a steroid pack that lasts a week that 'should help with the inflammation around the nerves' and I think it is helping.  I know after the first day of steroids I got out of bed and showered AND did my hair AND put on real clothes and make-up and went for a walk around the park.  So they are doing something.

The foot hurts if I move it wrong or wear a shoe, I'm keeping it wrapped with an ace bandage and it isn't too too bad, but I am ready for it to be over.  But apparently this can take weeks.  Or months.  (the horror!)

I'm just going to believe that it will be weeks; two down and hopefully not many more to go.  :)

So disregard all the ugly words at the beginning of this post; I survived and it's getting better all the time.  So yay.  right?

In 21 days I have back surgery.  BACK to surgery,  ha ha ha   I'm trying not to think to much about the actual surgery part; the whole anesthesia - puking - feeling groggy and stupid for days - incision pain and stitches and laying in a hospital bed and having no privacy and no dignity and all that stuff.  Trying to just let that go; it will be what it is and it's just something to get through.  My actual worry is that this surgery doesn't fix me. I've lived with this stupid back problem for eight or twenty years (depending on which particular problem you are referring to) with the thought in my head that if it ever gets too bad, I'll suffer through surgery again but "not until I have to".  Well, I'm there, and I have to.  But what if it doesn't fix everything?  then I'm just stuck in this hell with no light at the end of the tunnel.

This is a little like spending your last dollar on a lottery ticket.

wow I don't know whatI just did, but my screen disappeared into this tiny tiny little column.  I couldn't read this crap with a telescope!!!


Oh, apparently something like cntl+o is zoom, and I zoomed down to 10%.  ha ha ha  that was an entertaining few seconds.

Anyway, yeah; spending my last dollar on a lottery ticket.  21 days.

Vacation dreams

So many places to go, so many things to see, and so hard to find time and money...but we bought a new camper and have all kinds of ideas and intentions to take trips and see things and be places....

So I need to put some of the ideas together so we can make a plan.  right?

First trip after the camper gets here is for my birthday and we're going to Cloudcroft.  That's going to be awesome.  I've never been there, and I'm excited.  We can also go through Alamogordo and see the space museum and stuff, so lots of fun there.

But then, later...I want to go to Salado Texas.  There is the Stagecoach Inn there.  it is the oldest continually operating hotel in Texas.  To make that just a little bit cooler, the hotel was originally built by Thomas Jefferson Eubanks, who is my 4th great grandfather.  (Paulk line)  So I really want to see that.

And also, there's this house in Denison Texas; it is a Historic Museum because Dwight D Eisenhower was born there.  And I like Ike.  But also, that house was originally built by someone in my family.  I can't remember who right now, and I apparently don't have it notated on ancestry.com.  I know it's in my scrapbook, but my scrapbook is all the way over there on the shelf.  So far.  I mean, sure I can see it from here, and sure it's probably like an actual ten steps away, but I'm sitting down and I'm pretty comfy, so I'll figure out who built the house later.  But I want to go there.  (to Denison, not the bookshelf)

And to Flower Mound, Texas, where another ancestor started the Methodist Church.  And to Sulphur Springs where people who are my family did everything.  Everything!  Created the county, built the first buildings, shot the buffalo.  I need to see it all.  Maybe I could find out something about that mysterious great-grandmother of mine.

And then maybe someday we could get really adventurous and go to Louisiana (where my family built churches) and Tennessee (where my family built churches) and Massachusetts (where my family accused the neighbors of being witches).  And there is also Cory's family history strung all across the country too. 

And I want to follow Route 66, and go to all kinds of old forts and see every antique store in the world.  Well, maybe not every one in the world....but maybe 62% of the ones in 27% of the United States within a 836 minute drive of my house.  Or something. Some antique stores/junk stores. 

And Wyoming where the deers are, and Uncle Joe.  We have to go there for sure. 

Cory says we need to get a journal to keep in the camper to keep track of our travels.  isn't that a cool idea?  I love it!!!  gonna do it.

gotta go now.  Bye.

the story of a girl and her quilt

So my son's girlfriend messaged me on facebook one day and told me that there was this quilt she found in a catalog, and she'd been thinking about buying it for a while.  She showed the picture to two of my sons, and they both said "don't buy that!!  Mom can make that for you!"

That is SO sweet, that they brag about me that way, and I love that the girlfriend would prefer to have one handmade by me....and of course I said I would make it for her.

But it's a complicated pattern, and speaking of patterns, I don't have one.  So I have a picture to look at, and a brain to use.  I can do that.  I made a spreadsheet, cause you know, that's what I do.  So I determined the size of the finished quilt, counted the number of blocks across the quilt, made up a measurement for the borders, put a formula in the spreadsheet to see what size the blocks needed to be....and it might fit the bed when I'm finished.  Of course, there is also the small chance that the quilt will be of a size to slipcover New Jersey, but I don't think so.  *worries a little*

So I'm thinking I will keep up with my progress here.  I'm always thinking, after I finish a blanket, that I should have taken pictures of all the steps, but I never do.  So this time, I'm going to do that.  Not tonight, tonight I'm just going to write about taking pictures of the fabric that I will cut and sew and turn into a quilt...but I will take pictures and keep up with my progress, and possibly share this whole story with my kids and girlfriends when I am finished.

And just to state the facts clearly, as I did to Cory at the fabric cutting table at Hobby Lobby, "yes I know I'm insane.  I don't care." I BELIEVE I can do it.  I think. :)