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!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 36

 

Hey there!  I missed posting last week as I really didn't have anything new to talk about or show.  This week I am loaded for bear.  So sit back, grab your favorite beverage with a snack and enjoy.

I have finishes!  Did you notice that was a pural?  Yup.  I have 2 FO's to show.  First up..........

The Mehujaa Shawl is finally off my needles.  This is my all time favorite shawl to make and wear.  It is large enough to actually cover your back to your waist and maybe a bit lower depending on your height.  The lace back is very decorative but still offers some warmth.  The sides are stockinette stitch that keeps your arms nice and warm too.  It is big enough to actually wrap around you too.  The yarn I used for this one is discontinued.  I picked it up when my LYS was going out of business.  I have another colorway in this same yarn that will also be make into one of these shawls.  

Once that was off the needles, I felt I needed a cleansing project.  So.......................................

My forty-third To The Point shawl for our church's prayer shawl ministry.  This is made from Caron Simply Soft in the colorway Plum Perfect.  If you haven't heard, JoAnn's is going out of business.  This meant I needed to go and load up on Caron Simply soft yarn for my prayer shawls.  You will be seeing many of the above shawls over the next several months as well as some lapghans.  I cleaned out one of our JoAnn's stores of all their simply soft yarn.  I also went on line and ordered many more skeins in colorways that I knew I would be happy to use.  Believe it or not, I was almost out of worsted weight yarn for my prayer shawls!  I do believe I am set for quite a while now. LOL

After the TTP shawl was completed, I did not feel like casting on anything new.  WHAT????  Shocking!!!  So I picked up my RCR sock that has been hanging around for quite a while.

The progress keeper is where I was yesterday when I picked it up.  The yarn is On Your Toes and is a just a tish thicker than the fingering weight yarn I normally use.  but, being a bamboo/nylon blend, it will be perfect for the days I am doing my PT.  They are a bit cushy which is nice too.  I will probably just work on this for now.  I really want to get it done and move on to the second sock.

The only other thing I worked on in the past couple of weeks is my diamond art.

I am having so much fun working on this.  The squares with numbers or letters are still in need of being filled in with 'beads'.  I have been trying to complete one color at a time.  This picture has 25 different colors.  Not too bad.  AND.........since JoAnn's is going out of business, I picked up 3 more diamond art pictures to do after this is completed.    I have plenty of crafts to keep be occupied once our weather gets so hot I do not want to venture outside of my home.

Since I am working on the diamond art now, I decided to get some better tools than what is included with the kits.

Ergonomical tools.  So much easier on my hands and wrists.  

I did not stop here by last week as we had a family day to say goodbye to Samantha.  She has been living with our TX family for the past 5 years.  She even moved to Arizona with them.  We adopted her as one of our grandkids.  She decided she wanted to move back to Texas.  So we had a lovely afternoon with the family to bid her adieu.  

Our son, Jay, loves to cook for people and his food did not disappoint for the party.  (The loaf of bread is from me)  We had steaks and baked potatoes with southern green beans.  Our daughter brought home made ice cream for desert.  YUM!  Samantha is now safely in Texas, all unpacked and ready to start her best life.

Hubby had a Drs appointment a couple of weeks ago.  His blood sugars are slowly starting to creep up.  The Dr asked him to limit his carbs (breads and pastas).  We have had this scenario before............about 10 years ago.  We got his numbers down by just doing a few simple adjustments to our daily meals.  One of the things we did was make smoothies every morning for breakfast.  We started doing that again this past week.  Luckily, I had written down the ingredients we used the last time we did this and was able to assemble everything needed in just one shopping trip.  We use fruits and veggies in the smoothies.  Yes, they are combined all together.  Take a look.............

This has greens, cucumber, lemon, strawberry, mango, pineapple, ginger, beets, tumeric, almond milk, agave nectar and protein powder.  What do I taste?  The fruit!  I have also started making wheat bread instead of pure white bread.  Sourdough is back on the menu too.  I kind of fell off the wagon for a couple of months but pulled out my starter last night and gave it a good feeding and will be making a loaf today.

And that, my friends, completes my last couple of week.  I am still doing physical therapy and enjoying the strength I am getting back in my lower extremities.  Josh is still doing ok.  He goes for another MRI this week and will have the results the same day as the MRI!  Enrique continues to amaze us with how well he is doing.  I finally convinced my hubby to hire a pool service as well as a yard service.  That will take a load off of him.  He continues to dust and clean the floors of the house and I do all the countertops and appliances.  I do the laundry and we grocery shop together.  It all works out.

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

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

WEEK 34 of YOP 14

 

Hey there.  Thanks for stopping by.  I have something to show you.............

The second baby hat and sweater set is completed.  I finished it on Thursday.  There has not been any news of more babies on the horizon, so I think I am done with baby knits for a while.

Since I completed this, I pulled out my shawl I have been working on since forever.

Remember this?  I was only able to get 3 rows on it.  It is so big and with the 'furry' type yarn, I really try not to make mistakes where I need to tink back.  I did need to do that once this time.  This yarn sticks to itself because of its halo, making it a challenge to tink back.  

The only other thing I did craft wise was work a bit on my diamond art.  I can only work on it for about an hour at a time.  It is a bit hard on the eyes.  Yet, I am loving it.  Stacie finished hers and brought it over to our family gathering to show it off.  Darn, I did not think to get a photo of it.  

That covers my crafting.  In real life news.................

Hubby's sister came to town this week so we had a family gathering at our home yesterday.  I set up a taco bar and everyone pitched in something to add to it.  We had such a great time.  It was really great to catch up with everyone.  Here is a little photo of the group.

The only one missing is Josie.  She is working the Renaissance Festival so could not be with us.  Hubby's sister is the one on the left front.  She lives in Colorado so was enjoying our warm weather.

Enrique gave me a bit of a scare this week.  I was getting ready to go to bed, Friday night, so went to get him and when I touched the side of his face, he cried out and snapped at me.  He has NEVER snapped at me (hubby, yes but not me)  We went to the vet the next morning.  I was worried his cancer was worse but it turns out it is just an abscessed gum.  He is on antibiotics for the next 10 day.  The vet checked him out really well and said she could not feel anymore growth in his cancer and he was very stable for now.  Phew!  He seems better this morning too.  He is acting more like himself and eating with gusto. 

 This was him last night after everyone had left.  He was so tired.   Our daughter had brought her little dog (Enrique's girlfriend) with them so he was busy following her around for the day. Yes, he is sound asleep in that photo. 

That, my friends is all for today.  Let me leave you with this piece of advice.

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

WEEK 33

 Another week gone.  Can you believe February is already over half gone?  Dang, that was quick.

I do not have anything new to show you this week.  The baby sweater is still on the needles.  I am almost ready to bind off the main part and then start in on the sleeves.  My knitting came to a halt 3 days ago when I had a major flare up in my right wrist.  Not sure when I will be holding needles again.  *sad face*

Baby #1 was born on the 11th so that sweater and hat will be going into the mail tomorrow.  Hopefully she will get some use out of it.  I made a 3-9 month size but her birth weight was 11.7!  That is one big little girl!  She is already almost the size of a 3 month old.

Luckily, baby #2 isn't due until June so I have time for the wrist to calm down and finish the sweater for her.

It has made me a little nuts not being able to pick up my yarn crafts.  Lucky for me, I was introduced to a new craft last night that only requires one hand.  Diamond painting!  We had a girls night at Stacie's house (daughter in law).  There were 5 of us there and we had a blast.  We diamond painted for almost 8 hours and never got tired.  We decided to stop when we no longer could see the symbols on the canvas.  There might have been a little wine involved in that issue too.  LOL  I have my canvas and supplies home and will work on that until I am able to knit or crochet again. *sigh*

In other news, I am still attending PT twice a week.  That is where the wrist got 'injured' causing the flare.  How long I will continue with PT is anyone's guess.  There is a new gym that opened up about 1/4 mile from my house.  My thought is, once PT is over, I will join the gym to continue on my strengthening journey.  

Hubby and I spent most of our time this week over at Josh's house.  They were having their pool drained, cleaned and refilled.  Josh is still working so he really couldn't be outside the whole time with the 'pool dude' so hubby took that job.  I had the job of keeping their dog, Thor, out of everyone's way. I will say, their pool looks really nice now.  Hubby and I are scheduled for our pool draining next month and then our pool will be awesome too.  This needs to be done every 3-5 years because of our extremely hard water.

That is all for this week.  I do have a little chuckle for y'all.

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