Life in the Old Lane

 As I get older (not really, I am very young, 63), life just gets weird. I was chatting with a friend today...more like whining and she fussed because she missed my blog. So sweet to want to hear more of my goofy ramblings. Can't sleep tonight so I am looking for something to do, so blog it is. Do you ever just wonder how one day you can be standing in the rain happy to be there sopping wet, trying to get water buckets out to catch that glorious rain and the next thing you know, you are flat on your butt on the floor in the middle of your living room.  Nope, I never wondered it either until about 2 weeks ago. I am not the only one down on their behinds lately. It seems there must be an evil spirit pushing old people down and injuring their knees, hips, backs, shoulders and sciatic nerve.   If you are over 60, watch your step because it might go after you too.  So far, including me that ole mean thing has shoved 6 of us down.  The spooks are out so watch your step.

I have finished a quilt since I last blogged and I don't think I have posted it so I will tonight.  It is called the big star quit from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I wanted to call it the "Big Ass Quilt", because by the time I got through with it, it was about 120X120 and was heavy to drag around.  Decided not to name it that ugly name because my great grandchildren would wonder about that particular name.  However, as the label was stitched on, I was so proud to finally get a quilt on the bed that was big enough to hang over the sides to avoid the nightly tug of war in cool weather.  There it goes again, that life thing.  Now my pictures don't seem to be available on my ipad.  What the heck is going on here?  I know it is not me.  This is so weird.  I think I am in the twilight zone.

I spent the day with my friend Evie today and we were searching through our fabrics to make quilt blocks to be put together for a friend who does not have a quilt.  We spent a good part of the morning looking through my little stash to find fabrics to coordinate with the center block we all have.  We each are making 3 blocks from the Atkinson star quilt pattern.  We picked about 20 fabrics from my stash and decided we might need to go the quilt store and get more.  I then proceeded to lock us out of the house when I let the Bella dog out.  I said a really not nice word and proceeded to dig around for the outside key.  Found it, got Bella (dog) back in and set the alarm and could not find my purse. My friend is waiting on the porch.  I am yelling at her don't come back in you will set off the alarm.  I keyed in every combination to shut the dang thing off.  You have to wait for it to go all the way on before you can turn it off.  Well, finally got my head out of a dark place and figured that out, keyed the right numbers in and shut it off, let her in and we proceeded to find my purse, keys, tea and headed out again.  We went to two quilt stores, bought 4-5 pieces of fabric, had lunch was supposed to go by the bank, forgot, common lately...and headed to her house to see what she might have to blend with the quilt.  By this time, we had picked 40 different fabrics to go into our 3 blocks.  Talk about over thinking a small project, we did.  I think I must have hit my head when I fell two weeks ago or it is the new steroids the Dr. gave me for my knee and hip.  Please lord don't let this be my confused crazy life from here on out.  If this is it, my friends are going to hate me!  That will be sad for me.

Several months ago, I gave one of my granddaughters a little wallet I had made right in front of my 6 year old grandson.  He immediately wanted to know where his wallet was because he needed one too.  He also proceeded to tell me he wants one made out of flame fabrics.  Due to a very complicated summer of shingles, trips to help take care of my father, death of my father, another hateful rash, and yardwork, I just never got it done.  Kids are like elephants, they never forget.  I talked to him last night and he said "Grammy, when are you making my wallet?  You can make it this week and get one of those envelopes and just mail it to me and then I will have it."  I have the pattern, the fabric, the stabilizer and hopefully will get it done tomorrow if I can stay awake.  I will post a picture when I figure out the issue.  Not sleepy yet, but don't want to ramble on like the crazed steroidite that I seem to be so I will say until we meet again.....

Woke up at my normal new wake up time, 5:30, I should have jumped out of bed and been raring to go...found I just wasn't jumping til about 7 and I could not lay there. Got my sexy old lady swimsuit on and headed to the forest of giant weeds overtaking my pretty flowers. I pulled all the weeds on the side bed and the skinny bed along the front of the house. Then I started my clipping and pulling those dreaded wild poinsettias that could survive and grow in a hot boiling vat of killer acid. I actually saw these at Lowes for sale. Can you imagine they sell weeds to poor unsuspecting people. They take them home and plant them and some where down the road those babies will start springing up like giant aliens from a space ship and take over the yard. I just wanted to stand by the rack and scream "it is a noxious weed". Oh well, I guess I cannot save the world of weeds. One of my newer plumeria that i rooted this year and it boomed was looking droopy. i turned that big pot over and the wholes were plugged with roots. got bill to drill me about 8 more hoes, puled some of the leaves off and i hope it makes it. during this time period, a dense fibro-fog covered me in a thick green smoke and i could not find my clippers. i hate when i lay something down and three minutes later, i cannot find the item. Anyway, that ended the yard work. i pulled a few Mexican petunia out, checked my new cuttings, stripped shoes and shorts off and jumped in the pool for my 15 minutes of exercise. it felt good. Guess i will be heading out to to buy another couple of pairs of clippers since the pair i lost in the fog earlier had an issue with the lawn mower. he was not happy with me. i seem to be getting rid of clutter, but it is cluttrt i need. I think the steroids have shot every nerve in my body because I am so shakey, emotional, and nervous. Will things ever be normal??

Good and bad things

I am finally wearing down from the itchy, withy, bitchy stages of all the steroids. It is a good thing before I alienated everyone I love. I am still noise sensitive and seemed to have moved into great sadness. Ever have those days where you just want to bawl about everything? I am there now. Wish I could get back to normal if there is such a thing. Ok, that is my whine for the day. I have been getting up at about 5:30 and waiting til daylight to work in my plants. I am still sopping wet on my head pretty quickly but at least I am doing something. I replanted two of my largest plumeria. I have several that are fairly new looking pitiful from all the rains. I sure do hope I don't loose them. I have a seed pod on the dark pink. It takes 9 months for the pod to mature. This will be my 3rd seed pod. I was able to capture the seeds from the first one. I have been putting the binding on what I refer to as The Big Ass Quilt. It is 120X125.it is so heavy to pull and tug on it and hot to hand stitch the binding. I am about 1/3 of the way around it. I cannot wait to put that baby on my bed. It is the Big Star Quilt from Missouri Star Quilt Co. Soon, it will be on my bed. This is the 17th day in a row that my kitchen sinks are shiny clean with nothing dirty or clean in my sinks. Thank you Flylady. In 43 years of marriage, this is the longest time frame that my sink is shiny clean all day. Oh what a joy walking into my kitchen and seeing bright shiny clean sinks. I am also doing a swipe and wipe everyday in my bathrooms. They look clean also. Today, I went to a monthly all day sew. It is a nice group of ladies and I accomplished quite a bit in the 7 hours that we were there. I have been working on the polka dot quilt. The pattern is a NY beauty that has lots of little pieces. Gees I just looked at the time...way past my bedtime. Until we meet again...

Letting your light shine

The last two days have been a little calmer and less intense around here for both of us. I feel a little nicer but not much. I will be so glad when I get back to my sweet precious self. Yesterday, Jean and I moved my big plant rack out back next to the fence so it could get more rain. I think my orchids will thrive better and even surprise me with a bloom or two. On Tuesday, after plant work, pool time with Jen and cooper, and a shower, my friend, Evie came by and we worked several hours trying to digitize a pattern for her. I am almost ashamed for purchasing this very expensive program and not really learning how to use it more efficiently. Once I get going, it is really a simple program. It is relearning the basics every few months because it is not used enough that drives me crazy. It still is more user friendly than my Bernina program. Before she left, I had a nice surprise visit from my niece, Samantha and her son Dillon. Before she left, my friend Opal came by to pick up some plants I was giving her. I so enjoyed my friends and nieces visit with her little boy all of 6 ft. tall. Funny how those boys just sprout up and make handsome young men. I am working on the hand part of the binding on what I call"that big ass quilt". I sure do hope I can think of another name before I make the label. Bella impedes my productivity by biting and jerking the quilt because she wants my attention...and it is so hot for me to hold in my lap. Jason and his family came last night and visited awhile and Emily stayed the night. We did online puzzles and mainly just loved on each other. Austin got his braces off and oh my gosh, he has the prettiest smile in Ocoee..looks just like Jason when he got his braces off. Skinny, cute, and funny. Get ready girls. Flylady I love you. I wiped my cabinets down last night while my chicken baked. Bill actually washed a stone, dried it and put it away. My sink is clean and I am letting my light shine by doing small clean ups 15 minutes a whack. I figure the house might be cleaned and decluttered by Easter. I have stuck with my morning and night routines for 13 days and nights. Whoopee!!! I did one other fun thing..I walked Bella last night and went right up to the door of the lady that has a unique white plumera growing up to her roof and ask her for some cuttings. So I will have a new type plumeria very soon. Minimal itching for the last two days, life is good...until we met again.

Crazy Plant Day but so much fun

Well, today was an interesting day. One, I am barely itching for most of the day which was wonderful cause two weeks of scratching ain't pretty. All those steroids might be worth it after all. So now, I think I might be safe to drop the Itchy part of Itchy, Witchy, Bitchy. I am still running my pie hole 90 miles a minute and Bill says I am still Bitchy and Witchy. I did behave as best I could today just not all day. Today was interesting, educational and fun. I went with my friend Jean to the Florida Gardening Group's plant swap in Oxford, Fl. There were very nice and generous people from all over Florida that came together to share friendships, plants and food. Yep, they were all good cooks too. Jean and I came home with a passel of new cuttings, plants, and seeds that we have to get in pots and in the ground. I tasted Loquat tea which was very good and there were other teas too, but after I tasted the first, I just never got around to tasting the rest. I bought me a new hoe which was hand made by one of the people at the swap. I plan on using it to rip out all those weeds in the flower beds that sure do get on my nerves. The great thing is you can use it without having to bend over to get those pesky weeds. I have some unusual new plants like a sky vine, a burgandy hibiscous, a new type of cereus, a corn plant and a slew more that seems to escape me now. I was one hot mama by the time Jean and I got them unloaded, watered down and a list made so we could look them all up on line. It was so much fun and the people were very generous. I feel like I have several new friends to chat plants with and of course I do need all the help I can get cause I am a champion killer of plants. They probably would not have shared with me if they knew how many I have murdered. Anyway, I really did enjoy the whole thing except for that really hot part of loading and unloading. Did not do too much Flylady today but today was supposed to be Family Fun Day. Made my lima beans and coleslaw to take and cleaned my kitchen before I left. I did clean out my purse as Flylady recommended. She is so smart and has such a nice way of telling you to get rid of your Krap and make your life simpler. It is nice to look in my kitchen and see 9 days of nothing dirty in my sink. Both bathrooms are wiped down and I have an empty drawer in my bedroom. Under my sink is organized and the laundry is done. It is almost like a miracle little fairy who is decluttering 15 minutes at a whack. Pictures soon of the new quilt I am binding. I hope it won't be too much longer until I can get back to my sweet self and get rid of Witchy and Bitchy. Two more days of steroids. I sure do hope Bill survives it and we don't do bodily harm to each other before my little angel self returns. Got to be nice to myself and head to bed now. Until we meet again....

Itchy, bitchy and steroid high

Well, this is an amazing little rash I have brewing here. It is better one day, and and the next itchy hives allover again. Bill looks at me with a blank face which looks gripey to me and the monster rears its ugly head, grabs his tongue and wraps it around his head 37 times and ties it off and walks out of the room daring him to say one word. I am sure this steroid hyped side of me has not been great fun for him either. Hopefully, it will wear off soon before he chokes on the tongue wrapped around his head. We left 8:15 today to get him memory tested. When I filled out the questionare, it seemed I could answer all the questions for me with a yes..do you drop things,loose things,get distracted, etc. when we went in for the conference, I told the Dr. that I could answer yes for me to so many of the questions, that I thought we might be testing the wrong person. He said he had an opening and he could test us both. I said sure, go for it since it takes 3-4 hours and it is only money. I was there any way. I was afraid to ask how much. I guess if the kids and Grandkids get no Christmas, I can explain it all went to my head. I followed that appointment with another trip to the dermatologist. Biopsy came back with a contact dermatitis..it does not show what you came in contact with that causes the rash and itching. He said he thought I had two issues, the second being hives. He did send me over for a Lyme disease test. He doesn't think it is Lyme, but wants to rule it out. Come back next week to see if I am still itching. He better come up with something soon or I might have to grab his tongue and that would not be pretty. Stopped in Wallyworld so I could deal with more stupid people before I came home. This has been a very tiring irritating day. The positive is the tester lady told me there was nothing wrong with my memory...nice to know those steroids are good for something. Got my groceries and tomorrow I am going to cook up some dishes to take to a plant swap on Saturday. Now to the good stuff...FLYLADY. My sink is sill shiny clean...whoopee. I did not get anything done today which is Ok, I was gone til 4:30 and my butt was dragging. My sink is cleaned and my bathrooms are wiped down and I am going to take 5 minutes to put the rest of the groceries away so my counter tops are clean...I love flylady and her thoughts about life. One day my house might be clutter free and organized...whoopee...until we meet again.....

Itchy, Witchy, Bitchy

Itchy- rash, Witchy-steroids, Bitchy- combo of both. Oh Gees, I am a crazy person for sure. If I get anymore itchy spots on me, I might have to be committed. I am being punished for some kind of torture I participated in about 300 years ago in a previous life and it must have been so MEAN! I have the alien inside of me and it it shooting off thousands of baby aliens that are digging at my skin to get out....HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!! Another Steroid RX being called in so Bill can pick it up for me. Whoosh! that whine felt good. Now on to flylady... Sink is still shiny, bathrooms wiped down, dressed, counter tops have been scrubbed, one drawer in nightstand emptied...not cleaned out and sorted, empty. Kinda feels good. Sheets are clean and linen closet hanging open with a pile of stuff waiting to be sorted on the floor. Gotta wait for a 15 minute break in the itching to get my hands free to sort and refold. Last night, I could not find the sheets I was looking for and finally just started raking into the floor until I found it...Put the clean sheets on the bed and crawled in. Poor Bill, he said "you aren't gonna clean this stuff up?". He can be so silly. When you make a steroid frenzy mess, you don't clean it up...you just haul it all out and walk off. This flylady thing on steroids is kind of fun for me...it is the evil side of me coming out to scare him. Hehehehe! Isn't it great that I have whelps all over me a basically nasty house and I can laugh so evilly. Today my task is supposed to be clean under sink for 15 minutes. I may or may not do it since I have to do something about that big pile of linens in the hall. I would recommend if you have lots of stuff, go to flylady.net and try a few of her methods. I am heading out to the sewing room and we will see if I can stand 15 minutes in that cluttered area. I am thinking anyone who knows me or gets an e-mail from me should be praying for me or maybe just Bill and anyone I come in contact with on these steroids and whelps. I will try to update tomorrow...until we meet again..

Flylady newbie

Sunday, August 4, 2013 Flylady newbie It is hard to believe that it has been 6-7 months since I have blogged. It certainly is not because I did not have anything thing to say because that would never happen. I need to whine about this itchy rash I have been experiencing...just a little whine. It has been a big problem and I ended up getting two steroid shots this week. I have had major fatigue since June...life with fibromyalgia. Well, between two Dr. visits and 2 steroid shots and pills and creams, something happened to me on Friday. All that steroid hit me right between the eyes. I have been on speed since about 4 on Friday afternoon. I had earlier been reading The Quilting Board and one of the members mentioned Flylady. I started reading about cleaning my sink and whammo those steroids made me jump up and clean all three of my kitchen sinks using her instructions. You would think after 43 years of marriage I would know how to clean my sink. I am not really sure in all these years I really got the concept of enjoying a shiny sink. I followed her instructions to a T. I have a shiny sink and so far it is still shiny. I then cleared off much of the clutter on my counters. Really this does not sound like a great accomplishment but that would have been a lot for me prior to STEROIDS! They make you crazy, your eyes flash like a deer in the headlights, your hands shake and your mind says GOGOGOGO and I have been told it makes you talk really fast! Actually, I am pretty much thinking I might not be right after those injections wear off... gettin this picture??I might need one of those steroid injections about once a week . I have been working 15minutes at a shot and then I need to rest for awhile for the last 3 days. She advises only do 15 minutes at a time. It felt so good to get things accomplished...whoohoo. Bill is kind of scared right now. I told him if he messed up my sink, he must immediately clean his dishes and put them up...mainly because that old drainer just stayed full all the time...clutter ...clutter...clutter. So I did the recommendation of flylady, get rid of the drainer. Sink is empty and I am happier tonight. I am going to start her plan for the week tomorrow morning. Wonder how long I can follow the plan. We shall see. I also cleared off our "go to" spot (dining room table) that we tend to pile things on as we come through the door. My house is dirty but does not look too bad with a clean table and kitchen area. Wish me luck so I can grow up to be like Flylady. If you are interested in her thoughts, check out www.flylady.net. The best thought on there is not so much cleaning but be good to yourself. I am blogging to make me more responsible for sticking with this fun little plan. It also says I have to be nice to me and that means not staying up all night. So I am going to dry my sink one more time, put the cookies away that I baked, start the dishwasher, brush my teeth and go to bed. I have been waking up at about 4:30 and laying there until around 7. Updates soon on if I did Mondays duties which includes getting dressed when I get up...until we meet again...

Quietly stitching into the new year....

It has been a little warm here which was nice.   It has rained all day today and it will be colder soon.  I don't particularly like the rain, but I don't mind the cold.

I have been working on the big star quilt with my friend Elva.  I have all my squares done...but it looks a bit boring so I went to town today for guild and went by the quilt shop.  I wanted to get some more red fabric to match the quilt because it needed more red.  It just did not pop like I wanted it to so I am going to redo some of it. I will need to make another block to substitute for one of the teal or brown blocks.  I like the pattern...it does not go as fast as I expected because there is a lot of pressing seams open and trimming blocks.  I want the top finished before I leave.  It will be king for my bed so it is large.  I will do another one of this pattern...maybe.  I do want it done before I go home but I am really going to have to get busy if that is going to happen.  I don't think I have enough floor space to even lay it out to get the blocks placed and sewn together.  I want it done and I am not going to stop or stitch anything else until it is finished....We shall see.

I also went to the guild today and that was fun.  The speaker was Linda Cantrel.  She was an absolute hoot. She brought her quilts with her and talked about when you screw up making a quilt..I paid good attention on how to "fix" those mistakes.  She had 4-5 "pretty" quilts as she referred to them and she had about 10 more quilts that were her designs and they were quite unusual.  She has a great sense of humor and it shows in her quilts she creates.  They are quite funny with Elvis, Sunbonnet Sue, cemetary stones and lots of her pets.  I really enjoyed her talk and she had the whole group laughing.  I am going to check her out on the internet and she if she has a sight.  I would love to get a better look at her quilts.

I came home and took my fabric I purchased up to put with the quilt...wasn't the right red so later this afternoon, I went back to the quilt store this time with the block to match the reds.  Got a pretty polka dot and I think it will work when I get the next block made.

I took some pictures but never got them over to the laptop so I guess I will have to work on that so I can show you what I am making.  Haven't touched any other projects so I guess I won't get as much done as I had hoped.  I do have 2 baby quilts that I am afraid the baby might be grown before I get the quilts done.  Guess I should work on those for sure.  Life is quiet here but not for long since Jason and his family will be here soon.  I love it when they come.  It is so much quality time with all of them and it is fun.  That is all for tonight...until we met again.....

2013

Happy New Year!

Here Bill and I sit on New Year's Eve...no partying, no drinking, just us sitting here watching TV like old folks.   Oh! Wait, if we were old folks, we would be in bed at 11:23 at night.  Thank goodness we are not old.  I was really worried.

I spent most of today with my friend Elva.  We went to two thrift stores, spent almost $3.00, had lunch and went to my favorite quilt shop, A Stitch in Time.  I had met a lady in June when we were here.  She was very nice and wanted to know if there were any quilt shops here.  She was from the Cayman Islands and her and her husband had bought a home in Franklin for retirement.  When I walked into the quilt store today, there she was.  They were here for a week.  It is funny how sometimes things are just meant to be.  I had misplaced the little slip of paper with her e-mail address and she had misplaced mine.  What would be the chances of running into her on her last day here.  Sometimes God just puts someone in our path because he wants us to meet.  Isn't it funny that he has done that twice with us.  It was meant to be.

My friend Elva had made a big pot of soup yesterday and Bill and I ate with her.  Bill helped her move a couple of desks.

Wednesday was a big sale at the quilt store and I was back down there.  Wow, got some great buys that I did not "need", but I could not resist 50% off.  I started a big star quilt from Missouri Star Quilt Co.  I have two blocks done and 10 more to go.

It is cold and more of a biting cold than usual.  I think it is because it has rained then turned cold.  It has been a good week, no cleaning, no organizing and basically not much cooking.  In other words, I just did what I wanted to do all week.  Shameful isn't it.  Did a little sewing and putzed a few of the thrift shops with my friend, Pam today.  I found Emily 3 American doll outfits and a little Mini doll for less than $15 total...which was a great price.  Cannot wait to see my sweet Emily to show her "doll" Emily's new clothes and playmate.

I am going to try and blog more.  It is good to write down my thoughts.  Until we meet again....