WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009 - GOOD MORNING SNOW!!!

Good Morning All,

Another Morning, Another Dig Out!! Fun is Fun, but this is More Than Enough!! This used to be Miprezious' play yard!! Her first step, would turn her up Missing!!

We are still having bitter cold below zero temperatures with wind chills that make you shiver just hearing about them!! We still have not hit the height of this storm!! It is not due until mid-afternoon tomorrow!! They are predicting complete white outs tonight on a majority of this area. The winds have not picked up at all as of yet. They are expected to start again during this night and be up to 30-50 M.P.H. again and the wind chills will then go off the charts!!

Many of you up north probably think this is every day stuff, but Iowa hardly ever has hit these lows and snowfalls all at once!! This happens about once in every ten years here!! Our entire town borders it's entire east side with the Mississippi River. I do not even begin to understand the logistics, but every one says it is the Mississippi River abuting us that makes us safe from the brunt of most storms and supposedly exempt for tornados, but I have seen the damage here from those, although it has been exceptionally mild to what I have seen on the news in other places.

So, I am well aware many are worst off, but this town is literally shut down with this one!!

I have not checked in with Eunice across the street yet to see if she is still saying we are going to continue to "brave this" and just "dress warmer" and still plans to take me out to dental appointment tomorrow. I am sure she must be starting to have reservations and may be changing her mind.

I am hoping the dental clinic calls and changes it for us in telling me they simply are not even going to try to open in the morning!!

Well, this is definitely another sit back and stitch day!! I did have breakfast made for me this morning, so it looks like we are trying to have a good day!! But. looking out may be just the right incentive also!!

Hopefully, will have a Valentine Biscornu already for finishing by bed time tonight!! Who knows!!

Love and Hugs!!

Deborah

and

Miprezious, too!!

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009 - I AM OKAY!! I AM OKAY!!

Hello All,

My Daily, ALL DAY, Affirmation, - I AM OKAY, I AM OKAY, I AM OKAY!! I say it enough I will believe it, or is it if you say it you claim it!!

Who knows at this point?!!

I just had to put down my three Christmas presents and special secret project (have not even shared with best friends) and get a change of scenery in my stitching!! I am close to finishes on two of the Christmas gifts and secret project of my own and I do not know why I just can not pick them up and finish them!! Well, I know why on the two Christmas gifts as they are to the point they MUST be Flatfolds and my last Flatfold and I were a complete diaster!! And, I have a third Christmas gift that I have to get with the person receiving it and find out her favorite of the collection. This collection is baby angels and two of the eight had black skin. Wanda has seen them and loved them all, but thought she had to choose between the two that were shown in black skin. Dah!! Blonde roots glowing again!! At least until, many of you suggested that I just change the color of skin on all of them, as I have the color numbers right in front of me with the chart, it is child's play!! Evidently, not for me until it was pointed out!! And, I am not talking Christmas presents for 2009, OH NO these are still for 2008!! Very thankful for patient friends!!

So, I thought, okay, my perfect head start on Valentine's Day!! A simple Valentine Biscornu!! Well, actually I stitched the top of the Biscornu quite well and with some nice time to do it!! However, Monday night I got to these little heart "thingys" backstitched in each corner - as you can see they are faint in red on pattern and absent on my fabric!! I hated them when I first saw the first one!! Okay, very late at night, take look see by the light of day!! Oh, no better!! Herd of froggies entered!! This is "metallic" floss and not too easy to work with!! I stitched these in and the frogs took over taking them out more times on Tuesday and Tuesday night then I could keep count of!! Finally, chatted with Kathy K. Tuesday afternoon and she said, "leave them out"!! Another fine blonde moment!!

So, I did one more attempt and thought LEAVE THEM OUT DUMMIE!!

And, that is DUMMIE, not DEBBIE!! So, as this picture reflects I have two sides of straight border line to back stitch in and this Biscornu top is finished and I truly do not think it will be missed when finished!!

So, to say the least, Tuesday was a tense stitching day!! And, our weather has continued to worsen!! I believe, Kathy B. posted about not being able to get to an important doctor's appointment and she lives in Davenport the town next largest to me 50 miles south and is having the same weather!! It is the very worse I can remember ever!! And, we have not hit the worst yet!! That is predicted to hit mid-Thursday, tomorrow, afternoon!! Just about the same time, I was scheduled for my first dental impressions for my teeth. It will take weeks to get into this dental office if I have to cancel out tomorrow!! They are very understanding with my being handicapped, but they are also a very busy office!! Eunice has forbid my canceling yet as of yesterday!! She just says, "we will dress warmer"!! My mother brainwashed me to being quite fearful of bad ice storms and extra cold weather such as we are having. I am very fearful of being homebound by snow and/or ice and loosing power in my home alone!! I have prepared my bed to be a "refuge" for Mi and I if such happens until some one can get to me!! But, I truly worry about going out in this as I simply can not move fast enough!! Given, in my day, I would have simply made a mad dash for the entrance and then back to vehicle, but this is not going to happent, at least during this storm!!

AND, like the proverbial old penny, Max is back with me!! This is NOT permanent!! He is very well aware of this and accepts that this is for this storm and extraordinary below zero cold bout!! He also is aware, and agrees, one foul word or act, he has an instant exit to the local shelter, which is some where I would not even place an animal!!

Thus, far it has been total peace!! Although, today was Dialysis and it totally beats him down to nothing!! He is below one hundred pounds and simply can not get warm enough!! No one should ever freeze to death, but it has happened to way too many people!! He is certainly NOT one of my favorite people now, nor ever will be, but I can not stand to think of any one homeless in this awful weather!! I have had very strong words of advice for him to take his checks the first of February and get, at the very least, another room or efficiency apartment!! I am NOT going to continue to do this!!

He immediately got into recliner and went into almost comatose sleep!!

I was so tired all day also!! I went into my bedroom and took Mi with me and fell asleep mysleep late in the afternoon. Mi woke me about 7:00 p.m. HUNGRY!! I went to kitchen and placed dinner in oven and cleaned out refrigerator of leftovers to add to the hamballs that were in the oven.

Truly made quite a nice potluck!! I truly had been intent on my Biscornu stitching and then television show HOPKINS came on. I was watching this in kitchen and Max finally woke up and came to the kitchen. He did take over making the rest of dinner and helped with clean-up!! He immediately went right back to sleep again and I am sure will sleep the night through, in the living room, and may even sleep in morning!! Today will tell if peace prevails as he should be a bit more "spunky" as he does not have dialysis!! Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are dialysis days!! He simply is going to have to do some thing very soon as he can hardly put one foot in front of the other!! He will be needing the Caregiver, and sorry it is NOT going to be me!! Eunice, and most others are quite upset with me now, for relenting this much. I do realize, very well, he is "not my problem any more"!! But, he has helped me over the thirty years we were together different times!! Had he not got totally "bullheaded" and decided to "take another person against their will" as police tried to charge him with, I would probably be, most likely, still sitting in that "hellhole" Nursing Home rotting away till day I passed!! But, on the other side, he has done a whole lot of not so good things to me over the past thirty years also!! And, unlike most things, I have not forgotten a single one!!

Thus, it will either be a very short or long day today!! I will try to put on short posting at some point today!!

Any ideas on my Valentine Biscornu? Think it will look okay with out the squiggly "thingys" that I think are supposed to look like double hearts?

Till Later,

Love and Hugs,

Deborah

and

Miprezious, too!!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009

Hello All,

Yes, at least I "think" I am ahead of this one!! Even though I am very actively stitching on three, yet to be given, Christmas gifts, I simply had to give up their "ghost" for a bit and get a new change of stitchery!! Thus, I hope I have a slight jump on Valentines Day!!

Above is an almost completed top for this "VALENTINE BISCORNU"!!

There is also a picture of what it is to look like finished!! We can hope!!

The picture is not that great as this Biscornu is simply going to just be BLING, BLING, BLING!! The fabric is very sparkly and the thread is actually DMC Metallic Red 321!! Should be fun trying to put it together!!

It has been a little "on the edge" for me here the last few days!! That person who used to live here has been showing up at my door step several times a day!! He "thinks" he might have a small efficiency apartment, BUT only if "I" give him $100 to enable him to hold it as on, or before, January 05 he had again went through over $4,000 and was broke until the fourth Wednesday of January rolls around and then again on February 01 as he receives money in two different checks!! And, he had the nerve to ask "what did I do for Christmas"!! I knew, but refused to even acknowledge that upon being thrown out of here at 2:30 a.m. Christmas Eve Day he immediately went out and checked in to the hotel attached to our local gambling casino The Wild Rose!! Must have been a very Merry Christmas and really good New Year's Eve!!

Thus, he has me "wound up tighter than ever before" to quote Eunice!!

I was again so upset Saturday night I could not sleep at all!! Last night, I layed down about 2:00 a.m. and woke at 4:00 a.m. with terrific stomach pains and was sure I had "incarcerated" another hernia!! I was absolutely terrified!! But, I simply just talked myself down and calmed myself and the pains did subside a bit!! Of course, I was up for the day so I did take the 120 mg. of morning morphine that may have helped also!!

Eunice called me promptly at 9:00 a.m. this morning to tell me to not be afraid if I heard my garage door and kitchen door as she was sending her hubby, Marion, over to collect all my garbage and get the tote to the curbside!! It was soooooooo cold here and I felt so bad for him!! Although, Miprezious dearly adores Marion as he stayed with her the majority of the time I have been hospitalized!! Thus, he did come in and warm up as she insisted on seeing him and he sitting with her and chatting a bit!! Ironically, I had got dressed and was about to try and get the garbage bags at least outside of the garage. I would have froze solid before I could move quick enough!! We are under a BLIZZARD ALERT tonight beginning at 5:00 p.m. and lasting till noon tomorrow!! We have about 14 inches of snow on the ground with 5" of it being brand new in last day!! The winds have been reported as 30-50 miles per hour with wind chills in the minus twenties below zero!! And, it just keeps gearing up all week with Thursday being the very worst!! I was scheduled to get my very first dental impressions for my new teeth on Thursday. I have not had any teeth since November 20!! And, I believe they told me the dentures would take 6-8 weeks after the impressions are done!! And, Friday I MUST get my Port Catheter flushed. It is in precarious positioning right now, that it could go either way as to if it intends to continue working!! I sincerely hope it lasts as long as possible as it will be full surgery again as the last time was nothing short of a nightmare ordeal!! That was when they started the surgery and I was NOT out at all!! The Surgeon stopped it immediately and had me transferred to the larger town, Davenport, 50 miles south of me and admitted to the hospital there for the surgery to be completed!! Thus, I called dear Eunice this morning and asked if I should try to reschedule these days!! She told me "absolutely not, she was driving, and as she had told me before we just needed to dress warmer"!! I so wanted to say, Eunice remember our hour of togetherness last Thursday as we were stuck on the ice for that long while taking Miprezious to get groomed!! But, Eunice will probably pull out her big truck and we should be able to get around okay, but transferring me will be an absolute nightmare and very frigid experiences!! It is not to get above zero on Thursday!! And, who knows what these winds and snow accumulations will finally bring. When I woke this morning with the stomach pains all I could think about was how I would get to a doctor in this weather!! I am so thankful it calmed itself!! Eunice also pointed out to me that her hubby can not believe the number of Coke Cola bottles he takes out of here each time he comes over!! I have refused to bother with the bottles when sending someone else to do my grocery shopping, but Eunice will not let them be thrown away to rot some where and tries very hard to recycle every thing!! I did try to think about choosing some thing else to drink each time I wanted a Coke today and ended up with only two of the small bottles (10-12 oz.)!!

Have to admit, this is best stomach has felt since before the weekend!! If the Coke is the only trade off, I can easily do it!!

Thus, dear Wanda could hardly make it home to her house tonight after work!! She called me to ask if I was in real need of any thing tonight as she always comes here after her day job on Monday evenings!! She had gotten me nine cases of eight bottles of Coke over the weekend and dropped it off as it was on sale at one of the grocery stores here!! Eunice started refusing to pick it up for me months ago, but as Wanda says, "I sign her checks" and she will get any thing I ask for!! But, she also takes all my things to the Post Office as her job requires her to got there each day at some point!! So, my mailings will be even a bit more later!! I do hope she can get here tomorrow, but it is supposed to be wind chill of minus twenty-two below zero at 8:00 a.m. in the morning!! I doubt if she even goes into her day job!! Of course, she only lives about three blocks away from me, so may , or may not, be able to get over here. And, I truly am in immediate need of nothing, other than Post Office!!

And, the mailman was a real joke today!! Granny Lou, the 85-year-old neighbor right next to me, always calls each morning to make sure I am able to get up and that I am okay for the day!! She then believes it is her specific "duty" to go and get my mail at the curbside and to retrieve my daily newspaper and bring them in to me every day about supper time!!

I have told her all winter, that there is NOTHING in either of our mail boxes that is worth going over snow and/or ice by her!! I reminded her that some one usually stops for some reason here most every day and that they could take care of my, and her's, mail and newspapers!! But, she has hardly missed a day, irregardless of snow and/or ice!!

Yesterday, we were chatting on the phone about whether she should go over to the hospital and work her 5:00-8:00 p.m. Pink Lady Volunteer job or not!! I had said absolutely NOT and warned her Eunice would be watching and I would not want to "upset" her over her going out for this reason and Eunice WOULD be very upset!! I think Granny did decide to not show up last night!! Our yard man came about supper time and opened both her and my driveways, but I am sure they are blown closed again by now!! Even, Miprezious is running around here with her blankie still wrapped around her and I believe she is trying to keep it on!! While we were chatting on the phone, we saw our mailman pull up to each of our mail boxes!! Actually, a large pine tree blocks my vision of my actual mailbox!! Granny began to yell a bit and was very upset with mailman.

Here I got a package from Nordic Needle and Everything Cross Stitch and they both contained large amounts of fabrics that were on end of year clearances!! That darn mailman put these packages in a plastic bag and hung it over my mailbox, rather than bring it up to even my garage door!!

I even hit the automatic opener and he just stared at it and went on, even though he is very aware that I can not get to my mailbox at any time, much less in this weather!! He could have at least kept these packages at the very least for a better day!! Granny was then intent on going to mail box and I told her absolutely NOT!! Before we got off the phone, the UPS man arrived!! Both of us yelled out our doors to him and asked if he would retrieve the plastic bag on the mail box!! Well, he was not the most pleasant person about doing this, and I really could not blame him, but he did stop and grab it as he passed by it!! And, my fabrics already had begun to feel damp!! I was a bit miffed, but thought "not going to get upset about any thing today"!!

I am quite nervous and edgy being homebound alone in weather conditions like this!! Kathy K. has talked me through what I should do should I loose my utilities, etc. in one of our "Blizzard Alerts" before!! She gave me a whole lot of ideas of what to do, at least until some one can come for me, if they do, and survive alone until!! Thus, I did gather my portable oxygen tank on wheels, extra blankets, Mi's sweaters, bottled water, flashlights, etc. and put it in the other bed in my room!! So, I am prepared for about any thing should it get any worse here!! Old timers tell of 1950 here and how this town was literally shut down for over a week!! We had a terrible fire here on Saturday night, about 9:30 p.m., where a small Lutheran Church just burned to the ground!! It was a very terrible thing, but that area sure was lucky it went up in flames just before this weather hit, instead of just after as things turned out!!

Well, back to my red hearts for about another twenty minutes and I am going to actually go in to my bed and sleep tonight, at least that is my plan and hope!!

Hopefully post finishes before this week is up!!

Love and Hugs!!

Deborah

and

Miprezious, too!!

FRIDAY, JANUARY 09, 2009 - A LOVELY EVENING

Hello All,

I have just had one of those rare, but still power packed, migraines!! I just "thought" again, (there is my trouble just in thinking!!) that the un-named "A$$" could bother me no more, but as you read in my Wednesday evening's Blog he got the jump on me again and I did answer the phone by mistake!! Well, this headache just vasculates from migraine to tension and it is just plain became a pain in my "arse"!! NO MORE!!

However, the phone continue to rings!! It is quite hard for me to race to a phone before my darn answering machine picks it up, but I have now warned most, that you probably will be getting the answering machine as I can not beat it to the phone nor will I try. I have taken two "tumbles" in the last few days and will suffice to consider myself lucky and will not be repeating this again!!

Today, he finally decided to talk to the answering machine!! Well, it is just like I am a call for "carry-out money" that he is ordering and will be direct to pick it up!! "Well, em, uh, eh, ah, finally found an apartment and you need to give me $100 to hold it for me!!" Oh NO, NO, NO, NO!! You, my detested, need to budget, and begin by staying out of just taking a room and staying at the local Casino to celebrate your Christmas through New Year's holidays!! I have been just telling every one that each month his cash continues to get less for these months that just suddenly continue to get longer!! "Well, you know how hard it has been to find a place and you got to put $100 on it to keep it!!" Yeah, I will do that the same day I will NOT loan you my van to go to the VA in Davenport and then Iowa City!!

E N O U G H ! ! ! !

Last night Eunice called to say "Good Night" as one of us normally do most late evenings!! She mentioned we should all go to a movie this weekend!! Eunice's husband, Marion, usually even enjoys going along and doing this, but his type of movies are just not my real favorite types at all. But, it is great effort to get me in and out of a movie theater, so I will not complain whatsoever!! So, I thought this would be the plan of the weekend, and I am assuming it still will be, although Eunice says we WILL make church this coming Sunday as we are fast falling out of practice!!

However, Eunice decided to add a slight change of planning also!! Eunice decided it was time for me to get out of these four walls and go out with her this evening!! And, she called and awaken me this morning about 10:30 a.m. to tell me we would be going by her hubby's restaurant for their famous and yummy Friday Fish Fry night and then while we were out in this area we would stop by the local Casino!! Not my favorite night out, but it was time to go any where and it really did not matter where!!

Well, as the afternoon went on, I was trying to get myself out of my "funk" and get myself together!! Eunice called again and asked if I really wanted to go out for fish or would I rather go directly over to the Casino and have dinner in their restaurant!! Well, I much, much more prefer the fabulous fish (I dislike fish, except for these yummy all white fish fried fillets) and their famous fantastic cole slaw!! Also, I knew I could "gum" these items and did not think I could do so well on the Casino's Friday's Prime Rib and Seafood (as I hate seafood and it hates me as my lips and mouth swell up from some allergy to some thing of it, that I really could care less what is doing it, as I dislike it all)!! However, as Eunice pointed out, the Casino dinner would be absolutely free with Eunice's "GOLD" Card. Thus, we decided on the Casino. And, our weather has dropped a few more levels into more deep freeze and cold!! The Casino had pull up to the door Valet Service to Eunice and her "GOLD" Card!! So, this was yet another "No-Brainer"!! But, I was so set on starting some thing new in my new 2009 Stitching Rotation, I have yet to even get a good start on yet. I ordered the Country Cottage Needleworks "PRETTY IN PINK" and The Sampler Girl's "WONDERFUL LIFE PILLOW" Patterns as gifts (hopefully to me, does not that count in Stash Diet/Embargo!!) from Wasatch Needlecrafts 25% off sale this past weekend and they did arrive today!!

However, Eunice and I planned on leaving for the Casino at 5:00 P.m.!! Well, I tried, but I had a number of phone calls, the toilet was plugged with toilet paper and I took a direct hit with my hair spray in my left eye and glass lens all the while I continued to stand in my underwear unsteadily!! I immediately started splashing my eye with water, not thinking about my glasses lens!! Don't ever let hair spray, at least that thick, dry on your glass lens!! And, Mi needed to have her Budding Turkey Meat cut up and water refilled, as well as darn Cartoon Channel I can never remember number of turned on television over fireplace so she thought some one was still here with her!! Thus, Eunice came in, took out two large bags of garbage, one large bag of recycables and put my handicap equipment needed in her truck while I finished securing my blouse buttons and jeans!! But, we were finally off by 5:15 p.m. The Restaurant was slow, so we had a nice quiet and leisurely lovely dinner!! If things were too hard for me to chew, Eunice promptly ordered the waitress to try and get it all changed to softer version. Thus, I ended up with a very tasty and edible dinner!! Then, we went into the Casino and Eunice promptly took me over to my beloved KENO section!! I was consumed with problem of what "if" we ran into any one else we knew and how I could, or rather could not behave!! But, it was a very slow night!! Sat next to a gal, who soon got the idea I had problems and needed help with most things!! This was because each time Eunice changed her seat and area she had an attendant come over to me and inform me she had moved and that if I needed any thing that I should just hit her button on my cell phone!! Wonder what this dear woman really thought!! However, I was well taken care of and I had a simply wonderful time just with the change of scenery to begin with. Then, I won two Jackpots of $75 each and things just kept getting better. About 10:00 p.m., Eunice came over and decided to try to learn KENO and so we played another 30-45 minutes and finally decided to order the truck be started to get warmed and to then be brought over to us!! We had a nice drive back into and across our town with lovely conversation as we usually have!!

As, I have said, and thanked God several times each day, I do not know what I would do, or more importantly where I would be, without my beloved and dear friend Eunice. I think every one around here looks upon her as just my "Caregiver"!! And, the good Lord know she is all that!! But, Eunice is far more importantly my friend and neighbor first and foremost!! I value her beyond words I have!! She is God's true angel and gift to me and this world!!

Thus, after doing almost nothing, but nursing and sleeping off headaches, I am WIDE awake at almost 4:00 a.m. NOW and truly would love to just be able to go into my bed and go to sleep!! I may take half an Ambien and give it a try!! It it happens to work, I may take a whole Ambien for a few nights and really try to get my nights and days straightened out yet one more time!!

My mother informs me that beginning Tuesday through the entire weekend our weather is to really drop to a deep freeze condition!! And, par to course, I have to have my very first dental impressions done on Thursday and my good ole port catheter has to be flushed on Friday already again. My morphine pick-up and Port Flush are always on different weeks and require separate trips all the way across town to the doctor's office!! Sure seems like each month rolls around sooner and sooner each month!!

Well, perhaps I can share some pics of my latest stitching for this year in the next coming days and perhaps this Blog will end it's B O R I N G phase of days it seems to be having lately!!

Love and Hugs To All!!
Deborah
and
Miprezious, too!!

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 07, 2009 - ANOTHER DAY!!!!

Hello All,



I am working very hard at a very special project!! However, it is just not ready for prime time yet!! I needed a break today and will start some thing else just for a change of scenery, but what? Probably another Just Another Button Company Monthly Tea Pot or Tea Cup!!



Things are going very well for me and Miprezious!! She got a new groom yesterday which turned out to be quite an adventure!! Mi's Groomer is unfortunately going through the end stages of brain cancer with her husband!! She related in tears yesterday to me, as this was her idea to suddenly just do Mi out of schedule and I had to wonder, that it would be last the time she would be doing Mi for awhile so she did trim her a bit shorter!! She had decided to close her backyard shop in order to be in the home with her beloved husband!! Mi was the last one to be picked
cked up and the poor Dear was quite tearful!! However, after a very eventful drop off of Mi, her Groomer volunteered to bring her out front and to the curb side so she did try to keep her composure for the sake of the neighbors!! I told her to forget them and let it all out, before she had to return inside her home. Ironically, I was the person who convinced this lady to drop her grooming job in Davenport, 50 miles south of us, that she got from the school she had attended and to just open her doors here in town and to forget all the travel!! I can remember days of her calling and asking me, "could she make it on her own"!! I just totally told her that she surely could, BUT what did I know as I have only dabbled in running a salon for people!! And, yesterday, I had to reassure her that all her customers, who truly mattered, would be awaiting her return when it was right for her to do so!! She also told me her husband's death was surely imminent, and that she was just glad he had made it through the holidays!! The poor man has brain cancer!!



However, we also had an eventful dropping off of Mi also!! Eunice, of course, drove me in my lift van!! And, I was truly grateful that it was Eunice driving!! We have to make a sharp turn off a city street into an alley to get to this Grooming Shop. It is a renovated garage that was turned into a beautiful Grooming Salon right in the groomer's own back yard!! However, in this area of the city the blocks are old and very long, with alleys that are only one lane and very narrow!! Our city is known as one of the very worst in the entire state of Iowa for being horrible for snow and ice removal!! Well, we turned off the street and hit side to side pure ice with no tire ruts even!! Eunice kept getting out of the van in an attempt to put things under the tires hoping for the least bit of traction to result!! Nothing!! We had slid every which way to within four lots of the Grooming Salon!! We probably had tried for about fifteen minutes to make our way either, or any, way through the alley!! Finally, Eunice said we had better cell phone the groomer!! Good trick without having a phone book or knowing the phone number!! Besides, it is also a cell number as she does not have a regular land line phone in her garage!! Thus, Eunice got out of the van again and decided to walk the four lots length through people's yards where she could. I so feared a strange dog grabbing on to her or God forbid she fall on this awful ice as I was helpless to be able to help her!! It is incidents like this, that make me question my desire to be able to get out on my own for short errands such as this!! Eunice did make it to the Grooming Salon and the groomer's brother-in-law was in the shop with her as he had just arrived to sit with his brother so she could groom her special babies one more time for awhile!! Thus, the groomer and her brother-in-law put on those sole ice cleats and started back along with Eunice with every one carrying a large pail of sand!! The brother-in-law tried to pour sand under our tires, but it proved to help very little at all!! After seeing this was not going to work, the brother-in-law walked back and got his old pick-up truck and came in the alley behind us and went around our van and he then started working trying to put a chain under the front of our van and onto his trailer hitch!! Eunice told the groomer to go back inside as it was very cold outside also!! The brother-in-law was then able to creep us along towing us out of the alley.



Thus, a two minute drop off errand took over a hour!!



And, to add to my own misery, I changned my little pink "princess" phone I so wanted into my Stitching Sanctuary as I have made great strides in getting the room completely redone and reorganized!! And, back when the "princess" phones were, there certainly was not any Caller ID attached to them!! I even went to great lengths of chaning my master bedroom Caller ID into my Stitching Sanctuary!! Wanda was here and we tested these devices out and they worked perfectly!! Then, a bit earlier this evening, Barbara Walter's Special on Patrick Swazey and his battle with pancreatic cancer was aired on television!! My mother had a very avid interest in this program as it is a subject very close to her heart, as well as my own, due to my father loosing his battle with the same pancreatic cancer!! There was a commercial interruption in the program and my phone rang. I looked at Caller ID and it indicated my mother again!! Thus, I answered the phone and it was the "A$$"!! He is still "supposedly" homeless yet!! And, I asked if he had not gotten montly rates at the Casino!! I had just spoken with some friends yesterday, and we all were in agreement that since the "A$$" had spent Christmas week at the Casino hotel at $90 per night that his "month" two incoming checks should be running out any day as his month appears to be continuing to get shorter each month!! I literally said more than "Hello" and he just went non-stop about all his woes!! Finally, he asked what did I think? And, I told him I had no opinion as nothing he had said involved me whatsoever any longer!! And, he rebegan all over again!! I still would say absolutely nothing!! Then, he started to tell me all his out-of-town appointments he had coming up in next few weeks and he finally pushed my buttons when he said, "you will have to lend me your van" to get to these as he probably was going to have his P.O.S. (don't make me say it - "Pile Of Sxxx") car was going to be reproed!! I finally just told him, I could do nothing for him, including "lending him my van", so he better be making other arrangements!! Well, "he wanted to be friends and continue to at least take me out again, until I could believe him again"!! I lost it!! I just calmly collected myself though and told him he had never told me the truth in his first thirty years, so I needed no more of my time wasted!!



I am so "pissed" at myself for relying on this darn phone to be working, as it clearly is not!! I need to get every thing together, all over again, as Wanda and I just changed every thing out last evening!! But, since 90% of my every day and evening is spent in my Stitching Sanctuary it is now imperative for me to get all this phone equipment checked and rechecked to be sure it is operating correctly!! And, the crew of church "Hearts And Hands" volunteers just started to put up my outside handicap ramp this afternoon. They are planning on cutting out a large section of the fence that protects both of my outside entrances from unwanted visitors!! They predicted it would be open for about four days!! That would be if they showed up regularly, which thus far they have not whatsoever!! I have been hard pressed to complain as this Group has purchased the over $2,000 in materials for the handicap ramp and they are simply just church volunteers which include a building contractor which simply gives of their spare time to build and install this ramp!! But, now the thought of my protective fence being a gaping hole terrifies me!! I will certainly be dressed for the extreme cold we are presently having tomorrow and will be prepared to go out and have a chat with these fellows!!



I WILL NO REGRESS OR BACKSLIDE!!



What a Pain In The A$$!!



Love and Hugs!!

Deborah

and

Miprezious, too!!

SUNDAY, JANUARY 04, 2009 - ANOTHER SUNDAY!!

Hello Dearest Ones,

Yes, it is yet another Sunday!! As much as I am trying, I have not had success yet, in making one day be different from the next, especially Sundays!!

Eunice and I began "church shopping" a few months ago!! We found most to be quite unfriendly and down right cold!! However, we did go back to my "home" church, the Episcopal Church!! I "think", ideally, that Eunice would like to find comfort in the Catholic Church as this is where she was raised!! Personally, the Catholic faith does not set well with me as I am a divorced woman and divorce makes you some thing "less" than human in the Catholic faith!! I can give all I can give monetarily, and I can donate all the crafts I can stitch to their annual bazaars and fund raisers and I can work as long as my body can do at these fund raisers and bazaars to keep them running and their dishes washed!! But, I can not take Communion or even have the last rites of anoiting as I am that same divorced and less than human woman!! And, Eunice is this same status as a divorced woman also!! So, this leaves me totally confused as to "WHY" she would want to go some where that automatically will "mark" us as less than adequate and "unholy" women that we can not receive the sacraments of this church!! I tend to call my home Episcopal Church as "Catholic Lite" as if you would not see a sign indicating you were entering an Episcopal Church you could easily think you were in a full Catholic Church minus the "confessionals", of which I never believed in, and would be fully accepted as the fine women that we are!! And, we were both rewelcomed and welcomed into this Episcopal Congregation with such warmth and geniune caring that was quite hard to believe. I was ready to hang up our efforts to "shop" further on, but Eunice wants to continue on evidently!! And, Eunice and I had a bargain and I will not try to even begin to renege and say I do not want to "shop" any further. As long as Eunice is not comfortable where we find, it is perfectly all right with me to continue looking until she does!! I just don't understand what else we could possibly be searching for other than a later start time than 9:30 A.M.!! But, that I will leave up to Eunice!!

And, the days of my cooking a big Sunday special dinner are also appearing to be over for now!! I sincerely hope this is just a short term thing, but with my mother not being able to come down to my home any longer there is little need for me to cook a big and special dinner just for myself just because it is Sunday!! But, if nothing else changes perhaps this is exactly what I need to do, but perhaps just down scaled a bit!!

I used to love to cook and especially try new recipes!! But, now it hardly seems worth it!! If, I cook an omelet and hash browns, I now consider them to be one of my bigger meals of the week!! However, perhaps after my getting teeth again this will all change again!! For right now, I guess things are okay, but it sure makes for a real long week!!

And, I guess I could make Sundays as a new start for a new project day, but I would soon run out of storage space and run into some room fast becoming a disorganized mess!! I sure do not want to backslide on this!!

I guess it all comes down to my need to find a live-in full-time Caregiver and Companion!! It would be so nice to have some one who can actually carry on an adult conversation be here and just have some one to chat with. And, to simply have some adult companionship would mean so very much any more. It is not that I so direly need some one to take care of my personal needs any longer, as I am becoming more self sufficient each day!! It is just darn lonely day in and day out here. All I can say, is I thank God daily for Miprezious!!

I did have a bit of excitement, such as it was, here this day!! Eunice and I talked late last evening about getting up this morning to go to some church!! However, Eunice expressed she was very tired and needed to catch up on her sleep!! Eunice has been going to the Casino quite often lately and since she does not go until quite late she usually stays until 2-3:00 A.M. each time!! Thus, Eunice is dragging every day yet!! Thus, we had pretty much decided we would probably be sleeping in this morning, however, Eunice did call me about 7:30 A.M. to check and see if I felt like getting up myself this morning. Since I had a rough night of not being able to fall to sleep last night, I was more than ready to roll back over and go back to sleep when she telephoned and I did!! However, I also just layed the telephone receiver down on the night stand and did not get it hung up again correctly!! Thus, my telephone was off the hood and appeared busy to any one trying to call. And, per each day, Granny Lou did start about noon, after she had gotten back from church, telephoning me to check and make sure I was okay and had been able to get out of my bed alone!! And, Granny Lou continued to get a busy signal on my telephone!! And, thus Granny Lou did begin to try my cell phone, however, I had forgotten to give Granny Lou the new cell phone number after some "A$$" had my old cell phone shut off without any prior notice and I had gotten a new cell phone and number!! Granny Lou continued to try calling for quite some time and soon became alarmed that some thing was wrong with me!! Thus, Granny Lou telephoned Eunice and asked if she had talked to me this day yet!! And, Eunice assured Granny she had and that I had been quite tired when we had spoke and that I probably had not got the telephone hung up correctly as was just what had happened!! Eunice told Granny to just use her "Clicker" and let herself in my home and check to see if I was sleeping and that if I was to just leave knowing every thing was okay!! However, I was awake and up by this time and suddenly heard my automatic door opening!! I knew it had to have been either Eunice, Marion or Granny!! I wondered who and why they were coming in!! As soon as I saw Granny come through my door I knew why she was here!! I immediately went in to check my phone and there it layed right on top of my night stand off the hook!! And, thus was the excitement for this day!!

I then just straightened some more and more in my "Stitching Sanctuary" today a bit!! And, I will probably do the same thing tomorrow, minus the telephone problem I hope!! One of these days, I will surprise myself and have my "Stitching Sanctuary" back to PERFECT and can have the rest of the carpeting cleaned and declare this room DONE!!

Mare called earlier this evening and talked for a few hours!! And, now for the rest of my evening, at least until I tire, I will stitch and only hopoe for another finish!!

Love and Hugs!!
Deborah
and
Miprezious, too!!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2009 - FINISH NUMBER ONE

Hello Dearest All,

Well, as soon as I can finish a second one of these "GOOD NEIGHBOR" Samplers, I will be almost done with Christmas, 2008 Stitching. I have a duplicate Sampler I need to do, except where the "S" is, I need to make an "A". This Sampler is for Eunice and Marion Short and the one in progress will be for Granny Lou Adkins!! So close, but yet so far!!

I am thinking, I want to make these into Flatfolds, but am truly open to any better ideas!!

I have several pieces of fabric which I have purchased online that will do nicely!! However, I would love to get to a store which sells finishing materials such as braids, cording and different edgings. I have a whole large plastic bin of ribbons, but not exactly what is needed for many ornaments and flatfolds. Some day, I will get to one of these type stores and look out trimming department!! I am definitely on a Stash Embargo myself, but I do have a big need for trimming options. I have such a yen and desire to try every thing this year, like Altoids Boxes, Paper Mache Boxes, Ornaments, Bell Pulls, Biscornus, Fobs and hopefully some absolutely awesome Pinkeeps and Cubes!! I have binders of Tutorials and I plan to just "jump in" and begin to try new things this stitching year!!

AND, I truly would like to begin my making Eunice and Marion Short's and Granny Lou Adkin's Samplers absolutely awesome being they are LATE, LATE, LATE!! I also have a small African-American little angel that I have to stitch and finish for Wanda's Christmas gift!! Thankfully, all three have expressed complete patience as all "seem" thrilled at getting a piece stitched especially for each of them.

We are having another freezing ice storm looming over us that may or may not come tonight!! I hope it does not, as Eunice and I had just got into the habit of going to church on Sunday. If the weather is nasty outside in the morning, Eunice will not attempt to take me out!!

And, for some unknown reason, all the happy faces still remain in my snow out front. No one did show up yesterday to begin my handicap ramp, but when it is being done all by volunteer help, I surely can not complain!! Nor, am I in any real hurry for it to be done either. Funny, last night, I laid awake thinking just how I could decorate it with summer flowers come this Spring, even though I have not even seen it yet!! I just pictured those metal brackets you can place over railings which will hold flower vases that you can plant real flowers in or even put silk flowers in I suppose!! WHOA!! Guess, I will wait for winter snow to clear up a whole lot first!!

I have done nothing to speak of!! Received lots and lots of phone calls last night and today!! I did a whole bunch of reorganizing and putting stitching "Stash" away!! So many little pieces, skeins of floss, pieces of ribbon and buttons that needed to be put in their appropriate places!! My cleaning Motto: Must have a Purpose and must have a place to be kept or IT IS OUT OF HERE!! For weeks, my garbage tote was absolutely overflowing with bags of things with no purpose or was dragged across the street to Eunice's garage for her Spring Sale!! Now, about a bag per week is thrown away and the rest is put away!! I just love to sit in my Stitching Sanctuary and view another shelf suddenly appearing absolutely perfect. Another few days, and this entire Stitching Sanctuary will be absolutely PERFECT!!

And, I am still pondering the article in Funk & Weber's Newsletter that arrived yesterday!! A new start every single week!! Oh, how very, very tempting!! I believe I read that Wanda is actually considering starting some thing every other week!! I look at all the beautiful dozens and dozens of things I have looking at me in my Stitching Sanctuary and am tempted!! As the Newsletter stated, it is start some thing new every single week or probably NEVER get these things even started!! I also keep running through my head some very good advice that Mare gave me several weeks ago. I was relating to her that I had such a large rotation, that I would either NEVER get it all done or else I would suddenly start having finish after finish as many things should get nearer and closer to done each time I work on them!! But, Mare pointed out to me that I seemed so much happier than I had been with my stitching in quite a long time!! She pointed out to me, even way back then, that I was getting pure pleasure from just stitching and that it truly mattered little if, or when, if I ever got any of my things finished!! However, some how I feel like I have the need for "finishes" at some point!! However, I am thinking of grouping my things into groups of about the same size stitching areas!! Thus, I would have Small, Mediium, Large and simply Big A$$ Projects all in separate groups or perhaps intermixed for the surprise finish every now and then. And, then I am considering the possibility of really taking an exceptional liking to some of the projects and giving them some extra special time!! Well, you can only check back and see how my list goes!! First, I need to gather all my black "green" bags and make a total list of just what I have started already and simply add to it!!!

And, of course, in trying to keep up this List, I am going to have to learn how to do such lists on this computer along with trying to get along with my digital camera to try and take pictures along with this list!!

Well, all I can really say I know for sure is above is Finish Number One for 2009 GOOD NEIGHBOR by Erica Michaels!!

Love and Hugs!

Deborah and Miprezious

JANUARY 01, 2009 - FIRST DAY OF NEW YEAR

Hello Dearest Ones,

Okay!! I know this is supposed to be a Holiday Day!! I know, I have always had a big formal dinner that I pretty much cooked in recent years and totally cooked in long past years!! I know, I have always had a home full of people and life!!

Well, today was new life!! No formal dinner or lots of people!! Just my dear and beloved, Miprezious and myself!! We had visits from Granny Lou and Eunice and lots and lots of phone calls!! "I", all by myself, baked Chewey Pecan Brownies last evening and made some Potato Bacon Soup this morning. It was just right for a very cold day!! Granny Lou came over with Chocolate Fudge for us and left with Brownies and Potatoe Soup. And, later she called to tell us just how yummy every thing was and that she had plenty left for tomorrow also!! And, Eunice called that she had already been to the Casino again and that she had been there until about 3:00 a.m. last evening!! I asked why she had even made the trip home!! LOL!! Eunice said she had made Seafood Gumbo, as has been her New Year's tradition, although it was frozen and just needed to be thawed from another time when she made it!! I just don't like fish and seafood will swell my lips up over my nose in reaction to it!! She did take a plate of Brownies home to Marion as we know what a sweet tooth he has!! Miprezious was absolutely thrilled to see both Granny Lou and Eunice and, of course, demanded her belly rubbed as usual!!

It is quite cold outside with a substantial amount of ice and snow still standing!! A Group, HEARTS AND HANDS, connected with me some weeks ago!! They volunteered to put up a handicap ramp on the front of my home!! The utilities were here and have drawn all kinds of strange "funny faces" on the snow!! I will be anxious to see just how these people think they will be able to dig whatsoever though through the frosted ground!! I believe the ramp itself has been built in a warehouse and they will just be attaching it to my home!! The wrought iron railing on the front of my home on the stoop is supposed to be changed from one side to the other and the ramp built straight eight foot out my front door with it extending to the left ten more feet and ending in my driveway!! It will certainly make for much easier coming and going for me while in the wheelchairs and/or scooter!! I just hope every thing will mesh together!! So, it is show time tomorrow, with weather permitting!!

And, today, I have been doing what I sincerely hope will be the last organizing and cleaning beginning I do and have redone in my Stitching Sanctuary!! No matter how many times I have come so very close, I have never got every thing completely done!! Well, this time is the charm and I will finish no matter what!! Half the carpet has been cleaned and the other half will be done some time this week. Then, finally I can photograph for every one to see. Then, I can just center myself with my stitching, more stitching and more stitching!!

My mother called and is planning on coming down for a visit tomorrow!! That is also weather and her never ending problem permitting!! And, we will not go into that!!

Two more weeks and I will begin what I sincerely hope and pray will be a short and easy process of beginning to get me teeth again!! I am scheduled for the very first denture impressions on January 15!! I have been without teeth since November 20!! And, all things considered, I can not complain about this process whatsoever!! It will be okay!!

And, now I want to curl up and cross stitch until my eyes get heavy!! Several weeks ago Eunice began insisting that I start to get into my bed when my eyes first started to get heavy as I had the nasty habit of falling out of my chair and the last time resulted in a considerable blood loss!! We are not quite sure as to from where, but highly speculate we had few choices other than my nose, but I was clueless!! So, thus now, at the first signal of my growing tired, I must transfer from my Stitching Sanctuary into my own bed!! I have a bedside stitching stand situated right beside my bed and it contains several plastic canvas stitching projects such as my New Year Beaver!! Although, not my most favorite, some of these projects are quite cute and/or useful so I have started to stitch plastic canvas from my bedside as it is a bit more forgiving as far as mistakes!! Well, at least you can "frog" them easier!! And, every once in awhile a brand new finish suddenly emerges!!

And, I am off to stitch, stitch, stitch!! I am doing a special secret project as well as trying to continue to finish my Christmas present projects. Not long ago, Eunice had told me to "save my money and start "sewing" with all that "stuff" I had. And, if I did not get finished by Christmas people would just have to wait!!" Well, Eunice is still awaiting her Christmas gift as well as Granny Lou!! And, poor Wanda has not even gotten it's first stitch in yet, but shortly forthcoming!!

Good Night To All!!

Love and Hugs!!
Deborah
and
Miprezious, too!!