What's a Girl To Do?

...when she's making her way out of the rabbit hole and beginning to see more clearly...why she goes shopping!

You betcha...that's exactly what My Man and I did this morning...we headed out to the toy store at Disney to start our grandchildren Christmas shopping.  We had so much fun...Little Miss Camden is all about Princesses...when I talked to her the other afternoon she said."Mamie, I'm Sleeping Beauty"...so Princesses for our Princess

...Hampton loves Legos and he loves Cars 2...so what could be better...Cars 2 Legos...

I now have to get busy with my Toys R Us shopping and a bit of online shopping.  Hampton's  birthday is the day after Thanksgiving...so we need birthday and Christmas gifts for him.  FUN!

Now for my Wellness Report

...hmmm, not much to report this week...no walking, no gym and very little journaling...my one big journal entry was here on Thursday...you all will NEVER know how much your support means to me...thank you for all your kind words, your prayers, and your encouragement.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

We have a doctor's appointment on Monday to go over mom's new bloodwork and to see what he thinks about her progress.  I've got all my fingers and toes crossed that he's pleased.  I was there again on Friday and she ate great...so I'm hoping we're over that hump.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

I Think I Fell Down the Rabbit Hole

I seem to have lost time...this week is nearly over and I almost feel like I've been in some sort or alternative universe...out of body experience...hovering over watching this wild woman go through the days.  But I'm happy to say that I think there may just be a light at the end...maybe I'm coming out the other door of the rabbit hole.  It's been a crazy two weeks...first the hospital, then mom home from the hospital and not doing very well, Monday went to the doctor only to find out that she had lost almost 8 pounds in a week...she wasn't eating a thing.  She wasn't going to tell the doctor, I let her go through everything she had to tell him and he was ready to finish with the appointment...here was my opening...he asked me if I had any concerns..."Do I!"...I let him know that she hadn't eaten enough in 2 weeks to keep a small dog alive and that if we didn't get some nourishment in her I didn't know what was going to happen.  Well, he was sitting on a stool on wheels and he spun that around and took both of mother's hands, looked her right in the eye and asked her why she wasn't eating.  She said she just didn't feel like it.  I was at my wits end...they had brought her food over from the dining room, mashed potatoes, baked potato, baked sweet potato, grilled chicken breast...it was all still in the refrigerator when I got there Monday.  So when we left the doctor's office I told her I'd go get her anything she wanted...ANYTHING!  She decided she'd like a chicken salad sandwich and some soup...I put half of the sandwich on her plate and the half the soup in a bowl...BINGO!  She ate...YIPPEE!  I called Monday evening...she ate...I went back over on Wednesday (after checking in on her several times on Tuesday) and she ate a great lunch...and admitted that she really felt so much better.  So now that I've made this a really long story...the short of it is...I think we're on the right road and headed in the right direction.

Got a call Monday evening from Jami's husband Thom...my friend has taken a turn for the worse and is in a Hospice hospital...please, please remember her in your thoughts and prayers. I went and saw her on Tuesday morning...we talked and talked and she said "God is so good.  He knew how much I wanted to deliver the pillowcases and quilts to the soldiers at Fort Gordon.  He made sure that I had the 2 best days to do that."  and "All the ladies across the US  and Norway sent all those pillowcases to make it possible."  Then she said "Carol, I am so blessed."  OMG...she is the most amazing woman...what a testament...I am blessed to have her in my life.

This has gotten very long, sorry...hopefully we'll get back to our regularly scheduled program really soon.  Here's my first step to regular...a block from Nice People Nice Things...I missed last week and I'm a day late this week...but I'm happy to share...

Check Kelly over at Charming Chatter to see more fun blocks...I have my block ready to go for next week...these are just so much fun!

Wellness...

Here I am...my second week of my Wellness Report...It was a long, hard, stressful, scary week...I only made it to the gym once and walked twice this week...but I was just happy to have that time.  So I'm giving myself a :) for my effort.

My To Do List this week was a total bust...but I was doing the important things...so no guilt...I'll get to the To Do's when I get to them.  WOW!  I think I've really embraced this new attitude...this new peaceful life!  In my former life I would have been running around all day today to make up for lost time...NOPE!  I didn't do it.  I took a really long walk...started a pot of chicken soup for mom,  and I spent some time in my sewing room.  I finished Buster's quilt top...

Makes me very happy!  Just have to share this picture of my Mr. Quilt Holder peeking over the top

...we were both laughing it's a wonder I got a picture at all...LOL!

So, I think I was successful...no guilt!  More progress!

Making Progress

First, the biggest THANK YOU to all of you from Mom, and us...it's been quite a week, but I'm happy to say we've made some good progress.  I got Mom home yesterday afternoon...they let her go around 5 p.m...after the physical therapist deemed her strong enough to go home.  2 units of blood and some really strong antibiotics and she's feeling much better...not completely there yet, but she's home and that makes her very happy.  I'll be honest with you though, it makes me very nervous.  She does have her nurse call button with her if she needs them, I'm just hoping and praying that she doesn't need them.

I'm going to sign off for now...try to get some things done...and come back later! ENJOY your Friday!

Please Send a Good Thought...

to my mom...we got her into the hospital yesterday.  She fought it tooth and nail, but it's where she need to be.  She's been feeling pretty lousy for a couple of weeks...just not herself...well I finally got her over to the doctor where she lives and he confirmed exactly what I thought...she has pneumonia.  Then they also did blood work and found that she is incredibly anemic...so after waiting most of the day yesterday for a bed in the hospital, I got her in there at 3:30 and we saw the doctor at 5:30.  She'll be getting a transfusion, and IV antibiotics...he said she should start feeling better this morning.  If all goes as planned she should be home before the weekend...so I'll be missing for a few days...I'll check in when I can.

Thank you all!

Back to Nature

Nothing quilty to share today...saving my stitchery for Wednesday's post...so I'll share some nature from my backyard.  I was upstairs this morning putting backs together for Hampton and Camden's quilts when I looked out my window and saw something large on my neighbor's window...I thought from where I was that it was a bird that had hit the window...came downstairs and went out and checked...NOPE...it was this giant moth/butterfly

(I'm not sure what it is...anyone know?)...Thankfully these neighbors are out of the country, because as you can see from my picture I was right up near the window and zoomed this picture.  They would have been a bit alarmed to see me right out their window...to say the least.

UPDATE:  I just got an email from Christine...she did some research and found out that it is a Vine Sphinx Moth...Isn't the internet an amazing thing...got our answer just that quick!  Thanks Christine.

Then last evening we were out on the back porch, it was really pretty cloudy and then all of a sudden the western sky absolutely lit up...What a magnificent sight!  The Beauty of Nature...beyond compare!

Wellness Report

I am just thrilled with my Wellness Report...and another real lightbulb moment for me...here goes...

Got to the gym Tuesday and Friday  :-)

Walked Wednesday and Saturday...now here's my lightbulb moment...went to bed Wednesday just fine...woke up at 2:15 with a migraine...felt like an ax was in my head and my stomach was a mess...spent most of the night in the bathroom with my quilt and pillow...Thursday was a total bust...I think I slept almost the whole day...now I'm telling you this  because Thursday was a walking day...there should have been 3 walking days,  but I was a mess...so in the past I would have given myself a sad face for not walking on Thursday...but I made the effort and just couldn't do it...so :-)

And I didn't fill up my To Do List...normally everything that was on the Thursday list would have been dumped on the Friday list...not this week...I reevaluated the list, moved things around, spread some things to next week and it's all good! So... :-)

Week One of taking care of myself...I did it!  I feel great...no guilt, no stress!  New attitude!  My reward for this week is to spend tomorrow afternoon sitting on the couch, watching Steeler football with My Man...I may do a little stitching if I feel like it...or I may just sit and enjoy the game!

Thanks Kelly...you made me accountable...it worked!  Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!

Hampton's Big Brother Quilt

This was a fun, fun quilt

to make...I really enjoyed it...thanks Camille...

for a great design...this book is full of great quilts.  It was a perfect pattern to showcase this cute Max and Whiskers fabric.  So now Camden's Big Sister top is done, Hampton's is done...just have to get "Buster's" done.  There still isn't any new word on the baby's name, so I keep calling him Buster...Hampton is sure that's going to be his name...I sure hope I can call him whatever they decide...but you know he'll always be Buster to me...LOL!

Hope you have a great evening...

Fall in Windermere, FL

We were chatting with McCuddly's brother up in Central Pennsylvania last evening.  He mentioned that the leaves were absolutely beautiful, but any day now they'd be falling off the trees and he'd have bags and bags and bags of leaves to rake.  We told him that he wasn't alone and that we had leaves falling already...our oak trees

are starting to drop and the magnolia trees have big leaves that need to be cleaned up

...hmmm, do you think he has as many leaves as we have? 

Hope I brought you a little chuckle today!  I'll be back tomorrow with a picture of Hampton's Big Brother quilt...I couldn't get a good picture today because the wind was blowing and flipping the quilt all over.


Have a great evening!

I've Been Stitching a Bit!

Well, but before I show you what I've been stitching on I have to share a picture that I took this morning...I'd been up about 5 minutes (5:35 a.m.) and McCuddly said "Go get your camera...this is a blog picture."  This is actually the second morning of the full moon, but we had way too many clouds yesterday morning...this morning it was pretty clear

and it just lit up everything.  BEAUTIFUL!  Once again...the wonder of nature.

I've joined Kelly, Darlene and Vicki to stitch the Nice People, Nice Things blocks.  I've had this for a while and I guess I just wasn't very secure in my stitching ability.  My stitches still are really even but I'm getting so much better.  I'm sticking with it this time, because I love the blocks, and I can already see that I'm getting better with each block.  I'm not very fast yet at stitching but I think that will come too.  But the bottom line is I'm really enjoying the blocks and that's what's important!

This is Why I LOVE My Blog Friends

This morning when I opened up my computer to read the comments from yesterday's post, I found this wonderful comment from Nancy at Stitched With Prayer...

Stitched With Prayer said...

Carol, reading your post I had a thought about the end of the week reward plan. It occurs to me that if we truly want to accomplish serenity and wellness, we should reward ourselves at the end of each week regardless of how well we did...just so long as there is a sincere effort to reach our goals. I mean, if we don't get rewarded for our true efforts and remaining mindful of our objective, then wouldn't we start back in that rut of pushing so hard that we begin to lose the peace and wellness were working toward? Truly, I liken it to how I treat myself when I'm working on a quilt. Rather than leaving my sewing room feeling defeated and guilty because I didn't accomplish all I thought I should, I have been trying very hard to look on what I did get done, no matter how little it might be and rejoice in what I did get done. I'm just sayin...

Lightbulb moment for me...Yes Nancy that's exactly it...a sincere effort to reach my goals does deserve a reward at the end of the week.  From today forward I will be celebrating my efforts to achieve my goals...Thank you so much Nancy..

Today I'm celebrating getting back to the gym...my time on the stairmaster

and the elliptical

was fantastic...I felt so good when I got home...we went pretty early this morning so I had the whole rest of the day to do the things I needed to do today...and the bonus is that I have way more energy this evening than I have recently.  I also almost finished Hampton's Big Brother quilt today...just the last border needs to go on...that will be done tomorrow....so I'm feeling good!

ENJOY your evening...Carol

Keeping that Feeling of Peace

I'm joining in on Kelly's Wellness Report

...we talked a lot about that last week while we were at the beach.  We were both so peaceful for the 4 days that we were there...we discussed how we could keep this feeling of peace.  We  agreed that it would be really easy to keep that feeling if we just stayed at the beach...but that's just not the real world.  I didn't want to come home and jump right back on the merry-go-round...the go, go, go...seeing the weeks fly by...so I've given it a lot of thought and I have a plan...I'm a To Do List girl...I work better with a list, but my list is really probably never realistic.  I put way too many things on list for a day

and then feel like I've failed if I don't finish the tasks...so I am pledging today to be better about my list...I will be realistic...I will only put a day's worth of activities on the list...OK, I've committed to it, it's in print, I'm in.

I'm also committing to getting back to exercising...I realized this morning that I hadn't been to the gym in a month, now I really didn't just blow the gym off, we were traveling, and I was at a quilting retreat...both wonderful things, lots of fun...but no gym time.  So tomorrow, back to the gym...Look out stairmaster and elliptical...here I come!  Two days at the gym and at least 3 days of walking...that's my commitment.  I feel so much better when I exercise...so I'm getting back on track!  With my walking comes my thinking, meditating so to speak, and I am much more pleasant person when I do that.

So that's it...I'm making myself accountable by putting it out here...my blog, my journal...but I'm also not going to allow guilt to get me if I don't quite get it all in during the week...I love Kelly's idea of the reward at the end of the week if I meet my goals and if I don't, I will just commit to try harder the next week.

My goal...keep that peaceful, serene feeling...I'll keep you posted!

Rainy Days and Sunday...

Not exactly the way the song goes, but I'll bet you're singing along with me again!  Today is the second day of rain, rain, rain.  The sun's face never came out yesterday and today is just the same.  I looked outside at 9:30 and the street lights were still on...

now I know the days are getting shorter and it's staying dark a bit later in the morning, but this was really late.  No sun today...dark and dreary and lots of rain...but I'm just as happy as I can be...you'll find me up in my sewing room all afternoon...I'm going to try and finish Hampton's Big Brother quilt top today...and I'll be staying nice and dry.  ENJOY your Sunday!

Happy Girl!

What a FANTASTIC week...rested, relaxed, happy, serene...in a very good place...What a difference 4 days at the beach can make.  We were trying to figure out how we could bottle the serenity and the wonderful beach sounds...maybe a Ziploc bag, a jar...hmmm, we really didn't come up with an answer...but we're working on it...we'll see what we can come up with.

Right now I'm a happy girl, and I'm going to work really hard to spread my happiness...I saw this on Facebook today

and thought "This is it!"  I'm on a campaign to share my happiness !  I'm sharing it with you...Happiness to all of you!  ENJOY your weekend!

My Man Has a New Name

What an amazing week...I'm not sure I can even begin to put into words the sense of peace that has taken over. Lots of time to think, talk, walk on the beach, work on learning EQ7 (Kelly's a great teacher), do some embroidery, and did I say lots of time to think?

Several people commented that My Man needed a better name than Mr. Quilt Holder...and then Kelly and I were chatting one evening on the balcony and she said the very same thing...so we started with Studly, I started rhyming, sort of like an episode of Grey's Anatomy where they had McSteamy and McDreamy. I got to cuddly and knew that was it. My Man,

while he puts on that he's that rough, gruff guy he's really a cuddly teddy bear underneath...so McCuddly it was to go along with Kelly's McStudly.(Run over to Kelly's Blog for her new picture of McStudly) This conversation really began because we were discussing Studly & The Mrs. Quilt Along that Kelly's started and one of the things that she's asked us to do is share some trivia about our Men. So that's my first bit...He's not at all gruff and rough...he's my McCuddly.

We've had the BEST week...but I have missed all my boys at home...so I'll see you tomorrow Howie, Zack and McCuddly.

Here Comes the Sun!

Are you singing with me again?  What an amazing sight...I haven't seen the sun come up over the beach since I was in college...no we're not even going there! LOL!  This was the sight from our balcony just as the sun was beginning to rise in the east

...and then up just a bit higher...

...really makes me realize the true wonder of nature. What a wonderful world!

I Just Can't Concentrate

There's so darn much excitement around here that I just can't seem to stay on one thing for more than a minute...First of all I am so excited about Kelly's Studly & The Mrs. Quilt Along...I am crazy about the quilt, and my man otherwise known as Mr. Quilt Holder is in need of a new quilt....and while I'm doing one I think I need a snuggly quilt for this coming winter.  I spent a bit of time in my stash room and have them both picked out.

Here's Mr. Quilt Holder's fabric

and here's mine...

...so different from each other but so much alike...just like the two of us.  We are so different in so many ways...but in the ways that are so important we are so much alike...37+ years and we still really like each other and just love to spend time together...My Man, My Mr.Quilt Holder, My Best Friend!

But, as he told the ladies in the Deli department in Publix this morning as he was getting some ham for sandwiches..."The secret to staying married for lots of years is to spend some time apart"...Well, we did spend every minute together last week so this week, I'm leaving town.  I'm heading over to the beach to spend the week at a good friends condo AND I'll be making a stop at the airport on my way  to pick up someone VERY fun!  I sure am looking forward to a week of talking, talking, talking, eating at some beach restaurants, working on some embroidery, long walks on the beach and maybe a bit more talking.  I'm certain there will be some beach posts.  OK, I need to concentrate...gotta pack!  See you soon!