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!!