TUSAL

Not a whole lot of stitching going on the last month.  What little I've done has been focused on an exchange, so no pictures!  I did manage to finish block 9 of Anniversaries of the Heart (minus the as yet to be determined personalization) and started on Block 10.  What can I say, I'm procrastinating the last 10 minutes of stitching needed on the exchange piece because I'm still a bit insecure about my ability to do the finishing.  I'm actually going to have to touch the sewing machine, and without the comforting back-up of Mom!

Going backwards in time, last Saturday I dropped Mom and Dad off at the airport to start the Grand Adventure.  By now they should be on the ms Volendam (after a 6 hour layover in Fiji and a day and a half in Auckland).  Lucky ducks, they get to spend 38 days on that ship, touring some absolutely wonderful places I've dreamed of (New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, etc).  The end destination of the trip is Vancouver, BC.  Mom will finally transition from a Pollywog to a Shellback!  Dad, of course, is already an Trusty Shellback, due to his many years in the Navy.

The Friday before that we moved Grandma out of the rehab facility and back to her room at her assisted living facility.  She made the decision a week prior that she wanted to stop taking her meds, and stuck to that decision.  We chose (as a family) to not just take her off all meds cold turkey, but to enter her into Hospice Care.  Best decision ever.  She's so much happier and more comfortable in her own room, and getting spoiled eating whatever she wants and no longer get her fingers pricked to check her blood sugar.  It made for a hectic few days to get all the logistics and paperwork done, but I know Mom left for her trip feeling more comfortable that Grandma is happy and taken care of.  Just because she's in hospice doesn't mean she's going to drop dead in the next few days.  Actually, Grandma was slightly upset when the hospice admissions nurse told her "You're not actively dying, you're going to be here for a while longer."

Thank you to everyone that has had Grandma in your thoughts and prayers, and sent well wishes.  Its meant a lot, and the power of positive thinking has really worked.  I can't expect an almost 92 year old to behave like a spring chicken, but I can be happy she's comfortable and happy.  In fact, we have a date to watch Casablanca in the next day or 2.  I'm embarrassed to say I've never seen it before.

I've been browsing blogs when I can, but have been horribly negligent in leaving comments.  Sorry about that.  I'm hoping (along with my MBA student mentor) that life gets into a bit more of a set routine.  I'm horribly behind on school, not just because of Grandma's situation, but also due to my own physical therapy and another flare-up of my Thygeson's keratitis in my eyes.  At least the opthamologist here now believes there really is a problem, and is going along with that diagnosis.

I gave up

Google Reader has been sitting at 1000+ unread posts for a few weeks now.  I was trying to just scan through the posts quickly, but it wasn't quick enough.  Then I tried just going to some of my favorite blogs to catch up, but I have too many favorites.  Today I just marked everything as read, and I'm going to start fresh.

I wish we could pick and chose what we start fresh, and not just our blog readers.  The last 6 months feels like its just been one melodramatic thing after another, and mostly medical with the family.  My poor Grandma just can't catch a break.

On Tuesday I was just commenting to her how pleasantly surprised I was at how well she'd bounced back from her last trip to the hospital.  I should have kept my damn mouth shut.  Wednesday morning she called us in horrible pain.  She'd fallen down in the night, twice, and had to call for assistance to get up.  She declined going to the ER at 1am, but asked the staff to call us.  They did, but not until 11 am the next day, after we'd been in her room since 7:30 am.  The last 24 hours have been mentally agonizing.  To make a long story short, she broke a bone in her shoulder, needs surgery, but won't be getting it due to heart and kidney issues, along with her diabetes.  The prognosis isn't great.  Without surgery, she's expected to get back 30-40% mobility, which means she probably won't be able to use her walker.  Hello wheel chair.

Trying to find a silver lining in all this, she and I managed to share a wonderful moment together yesterday.  Let me back up a bit.  Grandma hates ERs, they're cold, noisy, uncomfortable and she's always getting poked with needles.  At the time, we didn't know if her arm was just bruised, or she had a fracture.  Her doctor couldn't order x-rays without an appointment first.  Knowing all that, we made the decision to just make her as comfortable as possible in her own room until we could take her in for the appointment.  Drugged up on Tramadol, with an ice pack, and in her recliner, she and I watched one of her favorite movies - That Touch of Mink.  I should say, she dozed, and I watched, while working on some cross stitch.  It was probably the last truly peaceful moment she'll have in a while.  No matter what happens, I'll treasure the memory, especially since the project I was working on was my BBD Anniversaries of the Heart.

I missed the TUSAL posting date (Feb 21).  My mind just has a hard time with moon dates as deadlines.  I do much better with end/beginning of the month.  Oh well, here's my little hobnail sugar dish with the ORTs from February.

I'm also late for my February Theme-a-licious wrap-up, but I still need to take a picture.  Hopefully that will get taken care of in the next day or 2.  Right now my priority has been more on actually doing stitching to de-stress than to take pictures of the stitching and post about it.

TUSAL and BAP Challenge

My first ever official TUSAL post, and I'm a day late!  Oh well, better than never.  First for the official details - TUSAL is hosted by Daffycat, and stands for Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long.  My day-to-day ort holder is a sweet little hobnail sugar dish (yes, it also has a matching cream pitcher).  After each post, I'll dump the month's worth of orts in the blue Ball jar you can see in the picture.  Hopefully we'll be able to see the orts through the blue glass.  Wonderful vintage glassware like this is one of the benefits of moving back home.

There's a combination of silk in there from Christmas Garden, Poinsettia House and the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments, and then cotton floss from Halloween Rules.

Speaking of Christmas Garden, I've had a bit of progress on it.  Its really moving along for me.  Usually I absolutely despise stitching borders, but I got in a really relaxing rhythm with this one.  Since I took this picture, I finished up that top right quadrant and moved over to the left side and have part of the border in.

Christmas Garden is my chosen project for Becky's BAP SAL.  For once, I don't think I'm going to have any problems meeting the deadline for this.  Now I'm sort of wishing I'd challenged myself a bit more and chosen Plum Street Sampler's Paradise Lost.

This is truly a quick post, since I really want a nap.  Workouts are kicking my butt, and I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's 6 am session, I'm still feeling Monday's.  Oh well, its totally worth it, I'm down over 5 pounds since Jan 1.  So far its been a combination of Hatha yoga, water aerobics, and some group strength sessions as part of the Kroc Fit Challenge I signed up for.  My body is responding well to the yoga sessions, and I'm no longer feeling so stiff that I'll crack if I move.