Sunday, June 20th

=-)

Happy Father's Day

to all the Dads out there!!!

And especially to my own Dad!

(...even though he'll never see this...)

And Dads, please think about this...

YOU are the first (and most important) relationship your little girl will have with a man. 

Make it a shining example of all her future relationships she should have with the men in her life.

Treat her the way you want her future special-someone to treat her

so she KNOWS she DESERVES to be treated with

Respect

and

Love.

.

My Right Hand...

She was born in 1991...

my second (and final) baby.

She quickly asserted herself into our family...

Unique,

Sweet,

&

Independently marching to her own drum.

As she grew, i tried my best to begin to slowly let go...

 

And now she graduates from High School tomorrow.

 

Kitty, i will ALWAYS be here for you!

(Even though you've figured most things out for yourself

and don't really need me anymore.)

Truth be told, it is *I* who have always needed

*YOU*!

You speak for me when i'm afraid to,

and you seem to know me better than anyone else does...

And still you love me

in spite of it

all.

Thank you so much for the most wonderful 19 years of my life!

I love you Sweet Girl!

Always.

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Here's the Scoop

.

Okay.  So here's the scoop on my  Daddy.
He went to have his CT scan on Wednesday, and the doc told him "It's not just worse, it's a hell of a lot worse!", so he sent him to the hospital where he was admitted to the ICU.  That was Wednesday.
On Friday, Daddy had "brain surgery".  The doc drilled two holes in the right side of his skull.  One to relieve the pressure and the other to allow all the fluid to come out (or something like that).
Over the course of three days, they drained over a pint and a half of fluid from his brain!
Unbelievable, i know!
But now he is acting more like Daddy and sounding much more like Daddy.
They shaved half of his head, so it took a while for me to get used to looking at him like that.  I've always seen him with a head full of hair.
But i went over there tonight and shaved the rest of his head (that wasn't covered by the bandage and tape). 

I'm just relieved that he is sounding more "like himself" now.
I can breathe a sigh of relief now.

So thank you for all your prayers!
I don't exactly do that myself, but i believe it certainly can't hurt! =-)
So,
thank you!

I think everything is gonna be alright.

Hope you have a WONDERFUL day!
=-)

.

Well...

(Sorry, but this is a picture-less post.  Partial rant, partial plea for good happenings, and all about my Dad.  Feel free to skip this one!)


My Daddy's back in the hospital.
If you didn't read that previous post, he had a motorcycle wreck back in March.  He was wearing his helmet, but he hit his head pretty hard in the fall.
However he didn't tell anybody he was having headaches 'til he could barely STAND them!  Z (my little sis who lives with him) took him to the E.R.  They did a CT scan and said he'd had bleeding on his brain, to take it easy, and then let him go home.

Well, the next day he started throwing up.
Z took him back to the E.R.  They did another scan, said he had fresh bleeding on his brain, and admitted him.  Kept him a few nights, did another scan, said he didn't have any more bleeding and let him go home.
He took it easy for a few days, felt a little better (OR NOT!), went back to work a few days after that.  (He still works full time, people!)

However.
He was still having headaches, but he didn't tell anybody just how BAD they  were!  He kept ignoring them!  He went to ONE doctor's appointment, had a scan, listened to the doc tell him that they wanted to keep an eye on things, but then decided
he didn't like that doc and wasn't going back!

My little sister couldn't convince him to go back to the doctor.
I was staying out of it because Daddy had already FUSSED at me about how he wasn't an invalid and how he didn't need to be BABIED.

Well, a couple of days ago, Z told me how Daddy had fallen a couple of times.  I told my big sister, who told my oldest brother.  He's a doctor.  He called Daddy and convinced him that he really should go see his doctor.
Daddy finally went back to his doc who did a scan and told him something like
"It's not just worse, it's a HELL OF A LOT WORSE!  Go to the E.R. now.  They're expecting you."

So my Daddy's in the hospital.  For some reason, they're going to wait until Friday to drill a hole (or TWO) into his skull to drain the fluid.

My Daddy is sleeping in the ICU.

I had to sit here for a minute and take a few deep breaths after saying that.

I'm so worried about him. 
I'm wondering why i didn't do lots of things.
But at least now he's where he needs to be.

I've called my big sister and my second brother, and they're coming on Friday.  My little sister and i are the only ones who live in the same town as my Dad.  The other three live in various places in NC.  Not sure if my oldest brother's coming or not.  My older sister talked to him.

I don't know. 
I'm trying to go on with my day.
We'll see if i can get through yoga without worrying about him.  That'll be a feat!  =-)

I hope YOUR day is going smoother!

Take a deep, long, cleansing breath.
Smile at the sky.
Listen to the birds singing.
Watch the trees gently sway in the breezes.

Life goes on, and we must live it while we're here.


I hope you have a very pleasant day filled with those you love.
=-)

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Needle Case

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I made this a month or three ago and never blogged about it, so i thought i'd share it with you today.

I got the cute little embroidery pattern from Cinderberrystitches.  It's a cute little freebie she had (has?).  I just loved it!  I wasn't even thinking about making a needle case until i saw her cute little pattern. (And FREE is always a good thing!)  I only used her embroidery pattern; i figured out the needle case size & what-not on my own.  I also changed the front pattern a tiny bit; if i remember correctly, the front had a word on it, but i left it out and continued the circle. 
I think all of her embroidery items are just so adorable!  Have you seen her "Flat Nat"?  Cutest ever!  (Go check it out if you haven't already.)

Okay!  Enough rambling!  Here are the other pictures Bunny took for me on that bright, sunny day:

(Front)

(Inside: Embroidery, Cheater, Miscellaneous)

(Back) (And i have NO idea why it insists on posting sideways!!!)

Just a little detail:  my base fabric is a "recycled" batik skirt fabric; the circles are a white dotted cotton; DMC embroidery threads (3-strand, if i recall correctly); machine blanket stitch around the circles (and i was SO tickled with that!).

So, go look at Cinderberry Stitches' stuff!  It's all adorable!

Fine Print:  I will receive NO compensation from this "endorsement"!!!


Hope you have a GREAT day!!!
=-)

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Blue WaveRunner

Wow!  It's been awhile since i posted on here.  My "QuiltPorn" blog has me fairly busy, what with looking through photos on a daily basis, writing to ask permission from the artists, copy-n-pasting, and what-all.  But it's all good!  =-) 

Besides...  * I'm lovin' the daily inspirations! 

And, apparently, so are others.  =-)  I've only been "live" 13 days, and i already have 16 Followers.  Yay!  I'm hoping that blog will "go somewhere"...  "Become something." 

...i'm not sure where or what yet, but that's what makes it a work-in-progress, right?

Anyway...

My Blue WaveRunner!!!

I finished it May 7th, 2010!  (that's for posterity's sake)

Thank you so much Bunny, for taking the pix for me (in the beautiful Sunshine)!

Blue WaveRunner (Front):

inspired by BumbleBeans

(Yes, that is a lone Red strip, thank you!)

(Quilted this way because of the Back...)

And the Back:

Once again, this is not how i pictured it in my mind's eye...

But... why does that not surprise me?!

These things *never* seem to look how i think they should...

I'm not really happy with the quilting inside the wave...

I'm thinking about taking it out...

And maybe doing it...

by HAND! [gasp!]

So there it is. 

It's supposed to go to a friend named Carlos...

But i can't help thinking how

   Blue is my favorite color...

   i've never made a quilt for myself...

   i'll most likely never see this quilt again if i mail it off to Guatemala...

Hmmm...

I think i'll at least hang onto it until September and maybe enter it in my local Quilt Guild show...

That'll give me time to think about it.

=-)

Take care of yourself!  And of those you love!

Thanks for stopping by!  =-)

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Tell Your Mama "Hey"

I finished my Blue WaveRunner yesterday!!!
I know it's been a long while since i've quilted and/or posted about a quilt...
Sorry.  But i haven't been home a lot, and when i have been home, i haven't really felt like quilting...
And did i mention that i started a new blog? !
I'm posting a quilt a day, and they're NOT my quilts.
Just quilts that have "It" for me.
Quilts i look at and love *instantly*.

Anyway...
I finished Blue WaveRunner!!!
I just need to take pictures of it, make a label, and decide if i'm going to enter it in the local quilt show...
Plus, i originally made if for someone... but now... i'm thinking about keeping it for myself:
a.)  I didn't tell the friend that i'm making this quilt for him.
b.)  I really, really like it and
c.)   if i give it to him, I will most likely *never* see it again!  (He lives in Guatemala, and i don't think i'll ever be able to go there.)

So i have some thinking to do.

Anyway, it's Mother's Day, so

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers out there!
Call your Mom and tell her you love her!
(Even if she pisses you off sometimes.  We're only human too, you know.)

I already called mine.  She said Happy Mother's Day to you too!

=-)

Porn

I've started a new blog. 
It's called

QuiltPorn.

It's just pictures of quilts with links to the quilter and site where i saw the quilt.  I intend for it to be a (mostly) wordless blog.  Just pictures.
Quilts to admire and drool over.
Quilts to 'ooh' and 'ahh' over.
Quilts to see without all the how's and why's of it all.
Quilts in all their beauty.

Sort of like when a guy picks up a men's magazine and skips straight to the centerfold to simply ogle the beauty there.

I just wanna look at quilts, and i figure there are *bound* to be others out there who wanna do the same. Right?!

So, please go check it out!  See what you think!  Offer suggestions of beautiful quilts you've seen! 
Keep in mind, though, that it's just a Baby right now.
Come back in six months and you'll be able to spend hours perusing its beauty.  Or check in everyday and it won't take you forever at one sitting.  =-)

Thanks for your support.

=-)

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Ooops!

I accidentally skipped blogging last week! And maybe the week before that too...

Well, it was *sort of* an accident.

Actually, i was so busy (and away half the time) that i didn't have time to blog. I TRIED to keep up with reading all the blogs i follow... I commented as i was able...

So if *anybody* out there missed me,



i apologize!



Okay, here's the story:
Boyfriend's birthday was March 31st. I posted about it earlier. We went to a Brazilian steakhouse. Daddy went with us. He had a slight limp. Hed wouldn't talk about his limp...

Guess why.

Daddy had a small wreck on his motorcycle on March 28th, but he didn't tell anybody except Z (my 20-yr old sister who lives with him). (He thought his four older children wouldn't want him to ride anymore, so he wasn't talking.)

He also wasn't telling anyone about the bad headaches he was having every day.
They finally got so bad on Sunday, April ELEVENTH(!) that he had Z take him to the emergency room. They did a CT scan and said he'd had bleeding on his brain, "but it had stopped" so they sent him home. Well...

Tuesday, April 13th his head was hurting so bad he started throwing up! So back to the ER Z took him.

Fresh bleeding on his brain, so they admitted him.

I stayed that first night with him (Tuesday the 13th).
Later, he fussed at me for "baby-ing him"!
Whatever.

They kept him 'til Thursday (the 15th).

Before all that excitement, Boyfriend & i went to Gatlinburg - April 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th. It was such a lovely trip. I blogged about it here.

Then on Apr 6th, Boyfriend had to go to Murphy, NC for his job (as far west as you can go in NC before you actually go into Tennessee), so i went with him. It was beautiful.
Late that afternoon, we got the call about Daddy being admitted to the hospital.

Then on Apr 18th, Boyfriend & i went up to Danville, Va to get some paperwork and visit his Mom & Dad.

Then on Apr 20th, Boyfriend & i had to go to Roanoke, Va to meet his oldest sister to consult with a lawyer about Medicaid stuff for his Dad.

And now (Apr 23rd, 24th, 25th) Boyfriend and i are in Beaufort, SC visiting my Mother.

Her Alzheimer's is getting worse.

And to top EVERYTHING off, she has been feeling bad today. She threw up shortly after waking up, and had a bad headache, and threw up again this afternoon.
Her husband convinced her (right before supper time!) to let us take her to the ER.
Three and a half hours later, we finally left.
They gave her an IV and some meds and she feels better.
She's had some chicken broth and crackers, and about an hour later, she's feeling better. I think her head still hurts a little, but
She's Feeling Better.


Now can i go on a little vacation?!

Or at least have a glass of wine?

Maybe a nice hot bath?

I'm not even going to mention the terrible incident that happened tonight while Boyfriend and i were trying to sit down at a restaurant to have a bite of supper!
Just suffice to say there were tears at the table next to us, and fussing and threats and drama.
It was simply one MORE thing that drained me.

My sister said i just can't seem to catch a break lately.


I'm thinking she may be a little bit right.



I know!
A professional full-body massage!
=-)

A Day Late... Make That TWO!

(Sorry! It's a long and wordy post, but there are PICTURES!!! Just scroll down to them if you're in a hurry. I'll understand...) =-)

So this past Wednesday was Boyfriend's birthday. I already told you that we went out that night to a very nice Brazilian steakhouse (Chima, in Charlotte) with family and friends.



Well, Boyfriend took off from work on Wed, Thursday AND Friday! That's B-I-G people! He doesn't take off from work very often, even though he gets FIVE weeks of vacation every year. He is way too bogged down with e-mail and voice-mail when he returns, so he dreads taking off from work because of how behind he is before he even gets BACK...



Anyway, he took off those three days, so we decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip! That's something else Boyfriend doesn't like to do; he likes to make a plan, have a plan, and execute the plan. He likes to have reservations at hotels, and everything mapped out. He likes to know where he's going, what he's going to do while he's there, when he's coming back, and every little thing in-between! However, we took off with only a tiny, sort-of, half-baked plan...


Seriously? He made reservations at a very nice cabin in the mountains in Pigeon Forge for Friday & Saturday nights, and we left town Thursday WITHOUT reservations nor a firm idea of where we'd stay... We knew we'd stay *somewhere* in Asheville, but that was all.



The trip was very nice. As soon as we started getting near Asheville, i could only think about Mary. (She's a VERY nice lady i met at a Guild meeting. She's a quilter, quilt & beading teacher, and quiltshow judge! I fell in love with her the moment i met her! We've been e-mailing a little...) I kept wishing i had enough nerve to call her. Boyfriend & i would have at least met her (& her husband, if he was so inclined) somewhere for a glass of wine...



Alas, i couldn't find my confidence anywhere. Plus, it was starting to get dark, and Boyfriend was getting antsy about where we'd spend the night, 'cause we had NO RESERVATIONS! (Yet, still, the world did not end. =-] )

We found a hotel with NO PROBLEM (despite the fact that it was almost Easter weekend), found a nice wine bar downtown (Sante', very nice. We sat outside, and it was a *delightful* time/place!), and we left Asheville the next morning.

We drove into Pigeon Forge, found our luxurious cabin, and proceeded to drive to Gatlinburg. We walked around downtown Gatlinburg only to find out it is Myrtle Beach in the mountains (i.e. no beach!)

That's okay. We spent the day there, perusing the souvenir shops, and even found that there was a craft show happening at the convention center. Better, it was Free! =-)

We got a pizza for supper and took it to our cabin. Here's a view from the 1st floor balcony:

I doubt you can tell, but that's Dollywood just below us. We could hear the train whistle and see the smoke from it as it wended its way around. We could also see the south end of the roller coaster, and hear the people scream as it dipped, looped and whirled. And if the wind was blowing in our direction, we could even hear some of the banjo music from one of the shows. The weather was gorgeous!!! The view was fantastic! And after the sun went down, we went up on the second-story balcony and skinny-dipped in the Hot tub! =-)

(Don't worry! Nobody saw us.)

(...I don't think...)

Here's our neighbor to the left:

Yep, the cabins were built on the side of a mountain!



And *this* is how close they were to each other...









But they were situated such that you didn't really notice you had neighbors.

The next night, we got steak dinners to go and ate in our cabin as we watched the sun set:




What a view, huh? =-)



On Saturday evening, there was more color in the sky:









The lights in a line in the distance are from the main drag in Pigeon Forge:


Here's Boyfriend in the KING SIZE BED the next morning: (i'm sure he'll *love* this picture being in here! =-) )

I-40 was "out" due to a bad rock-slide, so we drove north of it on the way there, and south of it through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the way back. It was absolutely stunning, as only Mother Nature can be. =-) This was a water fall that is deceptively small-looking in this picture:

So here's a picture of the same waterfall with Boyfriend in it for scale:

I thought i found the perfect waterfall, so here's one more picture for you:

And here's a picture of a river (sorry, i don't know which one)

(Can you see the fisherman? I think he was a "professional". He had lots of stickers that looked like they were from sponsors on his SUV. He had such patience!)

We got home Sunday evening. I had laundry and chores and all that fun stuff to do, PLUS i had to catch up on my blog reading, so i'm using all that as my excuse for not getting this post out on Monday...

Or Tuesday...

Hope your weekend was great too!

=-)