Theme-a-licious

Heather came up with a great way to keep us from getting bored with out stitching in 2012, called Theme-a-licious.  Each month has a different theme.  I decided I'd play along as much as possible and try to fit it in with my other planned stitching.  There are definitely going to be some repeats from month to month, and some of it might even be stretching it a bit.

For Jardin January we were supposed to work on anything with flowers or gardens in it.  First up is Poinsettia House.  Nope, didn't get a finish in on this like I hoped, but I have a valid reason.  More about that later.  Close, but not quite, and its not getting done tonight, I'm exhausted.

Next up is my Halloween Rules.  I stopped working on this about a week ago, but I got enough of that sunflower stitched that I'm counting it!  Yeah, yeah, its stretching the whole jardin theme a bit, but I warned you.

Its been a very busy day, starting off with a phone call letting me know grandma had taken an ambulance ride to the emergency room during the night.  Mom and Dad were supposed to come back from their camping trip anyway, but to make matters worse, Dad is sick with food poisoning (we think).  Mom has a tendency to keep foot just a bit too long, and Dad just can't say no to cilantro lime shrimp from Costco.  He's paying for it now.  This would explain why why I err on the side of caution when it comes to cleaning out the fridge.

Anyway, back to grandma.  She ended up getting admitted to the hospital (which is a good thing) and I found my way over to it to visit and make sure everything was ok.  Now I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to kill off my grandmother, but the lady is 92 years old; so one of the top priorities was to ensure the medical staff know she has a DNR (do not resuscitate) order, and to NOT give her a stress test for her heart.  They just cause more harm than its worth.

She seems to be doing ok, other than not being able to breathe without oxygen and tiring very easily.  About this time last year she was admitted with congestive heart failure and we thought that was the end.  She pulled through like the fighter she is, but I don't think this is the same thing.  First off, she's talking much easier than last time, and doesn't have the same swelling.  The suspicion is a blood clot from her legs worked its way up to her heart or lungs.  Of course being admitted on a Sat night/Sun morning means medical staff is at a low, so I don't think we'll find much out until Monday.

By the time I got home from the hospital, a trip to Trader Joe's and the Costco Zoo, the motorhome was parked in the driveway.  So much for my plans to cook a surprise birthday dinner for my mother, with a lemon cake for dessert, much less finish Poinsettia House.  She got Costco rotisserie chicken.  I did make her some Lemon Olive Oil cake while she was out visiting grandma this evening.  I omitted sprinkling the extra sugar on the top before baking.  Technically these are lime cakes, since we get really great limes from the neighbor's tree.

As you can see by this picture, they're pretty darn tasty and the glaze just puts them over the top.  Again, I just used the lime I grated the zest from.  The limes are so ripe and mild, they look like lemons, and taste pretty close.  Mom was going for another slice when I had to remind her she has the weekly family weigh in tomorrow morning.  She put the knife back down.  I'll wrap some of these up and give to the neighbors, since this household is supposed to be on a diet.  Poor Shepherd's Bush, they got used to getting my baking, but I think driving 750 miles to drop these off is a bit far.