WEEK 47!!!!!

 

I am alive!  Yes it has been a month since I last opened up my blog to post on it.  I have been reading all y'alls blogs though.  I may not always comment since, many times I am just grabbing a few moments to catch up with one or two of you while in waiting rooms or hospital rooms.

Anyone else have something like this in their home?  In the back are the Rose City Roller Socks.  Still waiting for me to work on them.  In the front is a ripple (chevron) lapghan I started the middle of this month.  My right wrist is still not able to do much yarn work.  Therefore, these sit next to me and get maybe one or two rows a week put on them.

However.......................I did finish the To The Point Shawl.

I did not get a photo of it before I whisked it off to the church for the Cancer ministry. 

To keep myself busy when I am at home I have been diving into my diamond art and legos.

Hei Hei from Moana was my Mother's day gift from hubby.  He was so much fun to put together.

We did finish the Milky Way Lego set.

It still needs the light kit put on it and then find a place to be displayed.

Hubby bought me Notre Dame for my birthday. My kids got me the light kit to go with it.  I have not started on that yet since my birthday isn't until next Sunday LOL.

I have finished another Diamond Art.

This one took a bit of time.  Lots of color changes not to mention I was a little busy with life this past month.

This is my current project.

I am hoping to complete it this weekend.  The flag is completed and his eye is done.  Now I am working on all the feathers and beak.

On the personal front..................Life has been very busy.  Josh has been in and out of the hospital again.  His short term memory is gone as well as his ability to make decisions and his thought process is getting bad.  He is now in need of 24/7 watching.  The family is taking turns caring for him while Stacie works away from home 3 days a week.  The Dr has suggested Hospice for him.  Not that his passing is eminent, but mainly to help Stacie out with his activities of daily living. (bathing, dressing, grooming etc)  So, that will probably be happening in the next few days. He will stay home and have Hospice come to him each week. That has been taking 90% of my free time.

Tiffany had ankle surgery and so I am also taking her to appointments as she has a hard time driving with this................

The cast finally came off this past week but she is limited to the amount of walking she can do.  I am still taking her to a few Dr appointments when her hubby is scheduled to work.  (We are all 1 car families)

One of Hubby's brothers had a stroke a couple of weeks ago also!  So, hubby has been in ready mode to head off to Las Vegas if needed.  So far, the rest of the family has pitched in and has helped out with his recovery.

So, as you can see, I have been a bit busy with life.  I am on my last week of PT.  I could probably extend it if I truly wanted to but..................I have all the equipment at home to continue on with what they have started.  With everything going on here, I do not think I will continue.  My attention is needed elsewhere.  

Today, I will catch up on laundry, mending, cleaning the fruits and veggies we bought on Friday, making Enrique's dog food and maybe even take a little time for myself!  

In honor of all those who lost their lives fighting for our American freedom.  We honor and thank you! RIP!

Until Next Time...............................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 43

 

Two weeks have flown by again.  Life sure does have a way of getting in the way of blogging.  Last week was Easter and this is the first year we have not had a family gathering for the day.  After everything that had happened with Josh, we all agreed we just needed a nice quiet weekend to regroup.  But, I am back and ready to show you what I have been up to in the last 2 weeks.

I have been able to crochet again.  Not for any length of time but enough that I am almost finished with the To The Point prayer shawl.

There are only two more rows to do and it will be complete.  Hopefully, that will happen today.

I did do a few rows on my RCR sock, but  it did not warrant a photo.  My main focus has been diamond art and Legos.

I completed all my flower kits.  There were 3 in total.  I put them all together in a lovely vase and have them sitting on my dining room table.  So bright and a nice pop of color.

Here is what I have completed in diamond art:

My little gnome magnets are attached to our beverage fridge.  They were a joy to make.  I completed all of them in just 2 days.

The humming bird was fun to do too.  When the light hits these items, they really sparkle thanks to the diamond cut beads on them.

I completed this butterfly last night.  I have no idea what I am going to do with all of these.  I did purchase a couple of notebooks to store them in.  Maybe I will just keep them in there and then I can just flip the pages like a photo album and look at them.

That is all for my crafting in 2 weeks.  Josh and I are back in physical therapy.  I probably only have another month or two left before I will be discharged.  That is fine with me.  I have purchased all the equipment I need to continue my journey at home.

Nothing else to report.  Things are status quo for the moment and hopefully they stay that way for a while.

Here are 2 chuckles for you this week.  Since I missed last week, I figured I would give you a little extra smile.

Until Next Time....................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 42

 

I'm back and boy, do I have lots of 'stuff' to show and tell about.  I am going to get right into it!

I have a couple of yarn projects on the go................

Still working on my RCR socks.  I had to decrease them by 8 stitches as they were very loose.  This is the only one I worked on in the past 2 weeks.  The other one is just past the heel and saw no love at all.

Another To The Point shawl has been started.  This is really a very bright lemon yellow.  The photo was taken at 5 this morning and not much natural light was available.

Both of these projects are in a little time out.  My right wrist is still not happy with me.  My rheumatologist will be getting a call on Monday to see if there is anything I can do to relieve the flare.  Tylenol is not really helping this one.

Since crocheting and knitting are out of the picture for a while, I have picked up other crafts that can be done one handed (kind of sort of)

Diamond Art!!!!!!  I love this stuff.  Here is what I have done in the past two week.

Grogu and Pram was completed and gifted to my DIL, Tiffany.  She is a huge Grogu fan.

Highland Cow magnets were completed and gifted to my DIL, Stacie.  She is such a big cow fan.  Cows are all over her house.

The original picture that got me started on all of this was finally completed. Not sure what I will do with it.  But, it's completed.

 This is my current project. Pardon the shiny glare.  There is a protective plastic sheet that keeps the project from attracting dirt and other things on the sticky areas.

Legos!  This has also been one of my new crafting projects.  I made these flowers on Friday.  I have more flower kits to make and add to the vase.  I told my husband he no longer needs to buy fresh flowers every week.  These will last forever and do not need water!

This is my current Lego project.  Grogu and his pram.  I finished Grogu last night and will start on the pram today.  We also have the Milky Way with lights to work on once all the 'little' kits are completed.  

That concludes my crafting news...................in other news....................JOSH!

That man!  After I blogged 2 weeks ago, I got a panicked call from Stacie that something was terribly wrong with Josh.  Hubby and went to their house and were shocked.  He could not stand, walk and barely talk.  We did not know what had happened but it was quick and very scary.  He had only been out of the hospital for 2 days!  We had people spend the night there for safety sake and on Monday morning, Stacie called his Oncologist office to tell them the symptoms.  They had her call an ambulance to get him to the Emergency Dept ASAP.  Once there, it was determined he had swelling in his brain (excess fluid) that was pushing on areas that controlled his legs and speech.  Thankfully, it was NOT a stroke.

He was then transferred to the hospital, where his Drs are, and admitted.  They started him on mega doses of steroids to try and get the swelling under control until his scheduled surgery that Friday.  That did help and he did have his shunt surgery on Friday the 4th of April.  He was then scheduled to go to acute rehab on Tuesday to get his strength back.

In the meantime, after surgery and until he went to rehab, he started to have symptoms of delirium.  He was thinking people that worked in the hospital were he co-workers and many other types of strange things.  When he moved to rehab, paranoia kicked in.  I think this was scarier than the delusional thing. He thought, everyone was out to get him and give him drugs to knock him out!  Come to find out, his steroids were to blame.  Once they decreased his dosage, his mind became much more normal!  Now we are going through steroid withdrawal and emotions are super strong.  Seems it will take about two weeks for his system to totally get back to normal.  He was discharged from rehab 2 days after getting there!  He was walking and talking again. 

This was his last day at the hospital and the last trip around the ward with his physical therapist.  He got back on his feet very quickly.

He is now home and the shunt is doing well.  He is scheduled to go back to PT this week (as am I) and hopefully this will get him back to being  'Josh' again.  Thanks to all of you who have offered prayers and positive thoughts.  The last two weeks have not been easy.  The hospital where he stayed is not close to home so there were many traveled miles in lots of city traffic.  Many sleepless nights.  Many missed meals.  Many tears.  But lots of great family support and love.

Hubby and I are now trying to get our lives back on schedule.  I even made a meal plan for the week!  There was a well prepared grocery list done as well as grocery shopping completed.  As I said above, I am going back to PT this week also.  I do not think walking copious amounts of hospital corridors is enough exercise to keep my mobility where it was.  Not to mention eating hospital cafeteria food is not always the most nutritious.  

I do have a good chuckle for you today

Until Next Time.................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 39

 

Hello and welcome.  It has been a very trying and busy week so let's get right to the fun stuff.

Not a lot of knitting was done as my right wrist is still in flare mode.  Here is what I did manage to work on.

Only a few rows on the socks got completed.  I did try them on and they were a little on the loose side so I decreased each sock by 8 stitches.  With less stitches that means they should knit a bit faster, right?

I did cast on another preemie baby hat for my niece's NICU.  It got the most attention.  I need another half inch and then start the decreasing.  Hopefully I can get it done this week if my wrist will cooperate.

Since my wrist was malfunctioning, I decided to work on some diamond art.

This was an impulse purchase last week and I did finish it in 2 days.  It is meant to be hung and I have all the supplies to hang it with.  Trying to find a spot where the beading will shine the best is going to be the challenge.  I will figure it out eventually.

Hubby and I decided it would be fun to work with Legos again.  He bought a large item for us to work on together and it came with a bonus kit.  Since it has been well over 40 years since I have really worked with Legos, I decided to try my hand at the bonus kit to see if I remembered how the instructions worked and if I had the dexterity to accomplish it.

The answer is yes and yes.  This only took a couple of hours to accomplish and I did enjoy doing it.  I am ready to move on to a bigger project now.

Spring has sprung here.  We had a week of VERY warm (90's) temps.  Our newly landscaped front yard is loving it.  I will take some photos to show next week.  I was a bit busy this past week to do it.  The next paragraph will explain that.

As I said in my opening statement, this was a trying week.  Josh ended up being admitted to the hospital last Sunday, with extremely painful headache.  They could not get it under control with his medicines he had at home.  The hospital kept trying to send him home after they relieved the headache with morphine.  Stacie told them he could not return home until he had pain relief with meds that would be sent home with him.  After 2 days, they did an MRI and found out he was retaining cerebral spinal fluid and it was causing great pressure which in turn was causing the extreme pain in his head.   The Drs are going to be placing a shunt in his head to drain the fluid.  Unfortunately, they could not get him into surgery for another week.  Therefore, they had to figure out what combination of drugs would work at home to keep him pain free.  Everything finally got worked out by Friday morning and he got to come home.  Since getting home, he has shown signs of degradation.  Walking is becoming an issue for him and he is now using a walker.  His balance is way off and his short term memory is shot.  His wife, Stacie, is now working from home so she can care for him and the family is stepping up to help out as much as needed.  Watching my first born going downhill is gut wrenching.  It breaks my momma's heart.  We are hoping after the shunt is placed, some things will improve.  We do know it will stop the horrible headaches.  The Oncologist said it will not help with the memory issues though.  As for the other issues............those only started after he got home so she does not know he is having them, yet. 

Today, I am catching up on our laundry,  Dinner is in the crockpot. I will head over to Josh's a little later to spend time with him and Stacie.  (She gets quite lonely since he is sleeping most of the time)  But.................I do have a chuckle for you this week.

 

Until Next Time........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 38

 

Another week gone for 2025.  I hope yours was a happy and productive week.  Here is a look at what my week looked like.

There were 2 finished items this past week.  First up is the baby hat.

It is such a quick knit.  I made the preemie size.  There will be another one of these cast on as soon as I finish my blog today.

I also finished up the lapghan for the prayer shawl ministry at our church.

This was made from the leftovers of my daughter's turtle blanket.  I still have enough leftovers to do another lapghan of some sort.  Not sure I will do another ripple.  Although, this is a pretty mindless crochet pattern.  But, while I decide what to do with the rest of those leftovers, I will be starting another To The Point Shawl this week.

My RCR socks are progressing.

Heels are done and the long slow process of the foot is underway.  I am still trying to do at least 5 rows each day on each sock.  These will need to be tried on soon.  Since they are made with cotton yarn, I do not think they are going to be a snug fit once put on.  Therefore, I may need to decrease a few stitches to give the snug fit I like.  Stay tuned!

That is all for yarn crafting this week.  I have been working on diamond art this week too.  My original piece is now halfway completed.  I started another one this week and it is halfway done too.  Variety is the name of the game for me.

Nothing much else of interest this week.  Physical Therapy is still ongoing.  I have a feeling I am just about done there.  I will be re-evaluated the end of this month.  If I do get discharged, I have purchased several items so I can continue with all the exercises at home.  I do not want to loose the muscles I have gained!

Here is your chuckle for the week..................Enrique liked it.

Until Next Time.........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 37 PHOTO HEAVY!

 

Hey guys!  I have lots of things to share with you today.  Photos were even taken during the week to document this weeks happenings.  Let's start with what is happening in my crafting life.

I finished the RCR (rose city roller) sock I have been working on forever!

I tried this on and do not like it.  It is just not comfortable.  Now, I need to decide whether to go ahead and make the second one and give it away or unravel this one and repurpose the yarn for something else.  

Once that was off my needles, I immediately started a new project.

A ripple Lapghan for our prayer shawl ministry.  These are all the leftovers from the turtle blanket I made for my daughter.  I am about halfway completed with it.  The prayer shawl ministry asked for the lap throws to be no bigger than 36" X 48" for mailing purposes.  This is a joy to do.  Ripple blankets have always been one of my favorite patterns to do.  This is the project I pick up when I know I am going to be stationary for any length of time.  (TV movie)

But wait....................there's more!!!!!!!  I am normally a monogamous knitter/crocheter.  Not today!  I really felt like I wanted options and since I have so much yarn now..............

On the left are a pair of RCR socks.  I am doing them concurrently so I do not have second sock syndrome.  The yarn for those is Cascade Cotton Sox yarn.  The more I work with it the softer it seems to be getting.  On the right is a quick and easy baby hat.  It is being done in a preemie size.  The yarn for that is Sweet Baby Delight from Hobby Lobby.  I am trying to do at least 5 rows a day on the socks and hat. 

That sums up what I do when I have time on my hands. We had some fun this past week.  We got rain this past week.  In 48 hours we got 1.25" of rain.  That is a lot of rain for us here in the desert.  I love a good gray rainy day.  They are few and far between here.  The gray day inspired me to play with my sourdough.

One of the most perfect loaves I have ever made.  Must have been due to the lovely humidity we had that day.

We also got to spend time with our oldest Granddaughter this last week.  She lives in Seattle so we seldom have a chance to get together in person.  On Friday, we spent the entire day with her.  We picked her up for lunch and went to a little diner in downtown Phoenix.  After that we headed to the Heard Museum.  Hubby and I have been wanting to go there for many years.  I am so glad we went.  Even after spending 2 hours there we had not seen more than half of the museum.  What an interesting place to go.  It is mostly about the indigenous people of the Americas. There are many artifacts (baskets, jewelry, clothing etc) from many different tribes from all over the Americas.  The one fact that stuck with me is.........there are 365 plants in our state that can be used for food.  Unfortunately, this is the only place I did not get a photo.

One we left the museum, we decided to go and take in an aquarium.  We got there 5 minutes after they closed the entrance.  So disappointed.  But, the aquarium is in a mall, so, off we went to visit hubby's favorite store.

Hubby and our granddaughter, Brittani, at the Lego store!  We had so much fun looking at all the different kits they had there.  As we walked around the mall we found a fantastic Lego display.

Over 45,000 pieces of Legos were used to make this display!  The detail was awesome. By this time we were hungry and thirsty.

We stopped in at the Rainforest Cafe.  It was nice to sit and relax for a little while.  And that ended our day on Friday.  Saturday we met up again with our granddaughter as well as other members of the family and went to a spring training baseball game.

It was a gorgeous day at the baseball field.  We have quite a few baseball teams in our state for spring training.  This game was between the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres.  Unfortunately the Mariners lost the game.  We left around the 7th inning as this ball park is about 50 miles from our home and traffic is not my friend.  It was so nice to be sitting outside for several hours and enjoying the company of family we don't get to see often.

Quick update on everyone.  Jaxon is doing great.  She has a job at a skilled nursing home as a receptionist and will be looking to get her CNA license and then on to her RN.  Enrique continues to defy all odds.  He is still eating well and just as active as a 14 year old dog normally is.  Josh is showing signs of digression.  He is needing a bit more help each day.  His memory is getting worse and he is having other symptoms related to his brain cancer.  His MRI, from last week, showed the radiation necrosis is growing.  Not a good thing.  We live one day at a time now.  The rest of the family is doing well.  

Here is your chuckle for the week..........................................

Until Next Time.....................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!