beginning of challenge quilt

Boy – This parvo virus sends both the dog and the owners through the ringer….it’s a real roller coaster of a disease.  Michael and I both went to bed Saturday night on a totally HIGH note after talking with the doc.  Sunday morning I was up early to pick up Jan for a meeting in Pineville.  We went to breakfast afterwards and I got home around 10:30, only to come crashing down.  The doctor called Michael while I was out to tell him that Cookie was vomiting overnight  L.  I think it put both of us in a funk for several hours.  Around 2 PM, Dr Duncan called (she is the one who has been taking care of Cookie from the beginning).  Dr Duncan indicated that even though there was a set back, she feels that Cookie has turned the corner and that it is only a matter of time before she comes home!!!!!!!  I can’t WAIT for that day to come. 

We had leftover Chicken parmesan for dinner, and I spent the evening cutting out more squares for the challenge quilt.  Here’s how it looks so far:

I know It might not look like much now…but I think it will be beautiful and unique once it is totally done.  Each of the flowers will be 3-D.

Saturday (1/28) morning Michael left for an art class and I left to visit Cookie.  For the first time I am cautiously optimistic!  Although she hasn’t kept any food down since yesterday morning….she seemed livelier than I’ve seen her in the past, and her diarrhea has lessened.  The goal Saturday was to keep food down.  When I got home, I put together oatmeal/pecan bread and left it to rise while I was working  the studio.  Michael started laying out the challenge quilt.  I think it already looks awesome, so that’s the good news…but the bad news is…I thought I only needed 75 flowers…but I need NINETY!!!!  Ok…better start cutting and ironing more squares.  I got the bread baked at 5 PM and ran a small loaf over to our neighbor, who’s been struggling with some health issues.  We kept a small loaf for home and took the second loaf to dinner at Larry and Evelyn’s.  She made a terrific dinner and we played cards for several hours after we were done.  By the time we got home, there was another message from the vet indicating that Cookie had kept down all of her food and that for the first time since she entered the hospital, her white blood cell count had gone up!

 

Larry & Joanne & Deb & Michael

Before I get started with my regular post, I need to address something.  If you are getting these blog entries on an email feed (meaning you do nothing, but everytime I post, it gets sent to you as an email automatically), you can NOT just reply to the email.  If you do...it goes into a cyber 'dead letter' type office and I never see it.  If you want to respond to a particular blog, then on the bottom of the email it will tell you how to do that.  If you pick to comment anonymously, then put something like 'Jan in CT' so that at least I know who it is.  Then, when you comment using the same computer, it will automatically append your 'signature' to your comment.  If you don't wish to comment, but want to write directly TO me, then you should hit FORWARD on the blog email and type in my address.  I'm writing this because I've now heard from the second person who said to me 'you're not writing back to me'.  I'm not writing back becasue I never get your messages if you just hit reply.  Hope that clears things up....now back to our regularly scheduled blogging:

Friday (1/27) was more of the same…Michael went golfing, I worked on my quilting and we both worried about Cookie.  They gave her some food at 8 which she seemed to keep down so that was good, but they gave her more food at 12 which she immediately threw upL .

Barrie came over to knit/play for a couple of hours and at 4:30, Joanne and Larry picked us up to go to PALM for dinner:

Our food was fabulous (for me lobster bisque, chicken parmesan, heath fudge cake, and for Michael garden salad, coconut shrimp, has brown potatoes and molten lavacake) and once we were home, Joanne and Larry came in for after dinner drinks and interesting conversation.

Thursday morning (1/26) we got an update on Cookie and she is still on a downward trend  L.  Michael left for golf and I left for quilting.  I got a bit of beading done on my wall hanging, and once I got home from quilting and Michael from golfing we took off to visit Cookie.  Normally all you can do is look at her through a glass wall…but I think they took pity on us, so we got to gown up and go in and hold her.  She has had constant diarrhea and her little bottom looks so raw.  I am taking hope in the fact that her gums are no longer white, but a little pink.  But she hasn’t eaten in 2-1/2 days and she’s such a little thing that she doesn’t have any reserves.  I am so glad we got to hold her.  We came home and had leftovers for dinner, then I spent the night working on my quilt challenge while Michael watched TV.

Wednesday (1/25) ranks right up there with the top 10 worst days of my life.  Cookie was so good on Tuesday….getting steadily better….by Tuesday night she was tearing around the basement as Jan and I loaded stuff on to the new shelves…but by Wednesday morning…she had crashed again.  We had an early morning vet appointment and the upshot is that she has the parvo virus.  There is nothing that can cure it, you just try to keep the dog alive until their own immune system can mount a response against the virus.  Cookie is currently in the hospital, getting round the clock care, with only a 50/50 chance of survival.  Needless to say I have spent this whole day crying and trying to send good vibes to my baby.  I know she’s only been here a few days…but she already captured our hearts and they are breaking right now…I’m really not one to wish my life away…but I really wish it were Saturday and that she was doing better.  Please keep her in your prayers…she’s such a tiny thing and doesn’t deserve the pain she is going through.

new basement shelves

Tuesday morning (1/24) Michael left for BJ’s and other errands, and Nancy arrived at 9:30 for our regular Tuesday get together.  She looked AWESOME!  Her hair was styled perfectly and she had on a beautiful outfit…..I asked what the deal was and she said she was changing her image for 2012…so far she’s doing a bang up job!  Eric (our handyman) also showed up around 9 to put shelves in one end of my sewing closet (I wish I had taken a picture of this space before Michael helped me to clear everything out of it….DISASTER!):

They may not look like much…but believe me…I am THRILLED to have them in my sewing closet.  I have lots of stuff to put on them already (no kidding…when do I NOT have ‘lots of stuff’!)  I have to tell you a funny story about Eric.  I don’t remember how we met him, but he is a great handyman and does a lot of work on the ‘models’ here at Sun City.  He did a lot for us in the beginning, but then I didn’t see him for a couple of years.  He called me several months ago to ask me to help out a new SCCL person with some drapes they had ordered that were the wrong size.  While we were talking on the phone, he asked me if I was still making bread.  Now, you know me, I bake bread/rolls/yeast breakfast stuff at least once a week, so I said yes, and then asked why HE was asking.  He told me that the bread I gave him (apparently years ago when he was first doing stuff for us) was the best bread he ever ate!  Now I’ve been really busy the last couple of days….but my golden pull apart butter buns go together in a flash…so I made them this morning and baked around lunchtime and gave him some for lunch…he LOVED them!  He also got to take home the leftovers.  He is such a sweet guy that I was happy to do it for him. 

Anyway,I went to Stitch and Chat in the afternoon for just an hour and told everyone that if they wanted to be cheered up for any reason…they should come to my house and see Cookie!  I came home at 2 so that Michael and I could meet with a new financial planner.  She left around 3 and Michael finished up making his potatoes/carrots mix and I got 2 meatloaves together.  Paula (a friend and neighbor) came by to visit Cookie and Paula coo’ed over her and said she was just precious (which she TOTALLY is…and I am so NOT a prejudiced mother  J).  Jan and Walt arrived around 6 for the aforementioned potatoes/carrots, meatloaf and green beans…then Michael and Walt went to the movies (to see MARILYN) while Jan and I stayed home to drink and knit J.

One of my blog readers asked how we ended up with Cookie.  Well…you all know we lost Chloe in September, 2011.  I always knew I would want another dog, and Michael asked if we could wait until after our cruise.  We got home on Sunday, and on Monday I started looking at the Humane Societies in our area.  I definitely wanted a puppy (so that we had a better chance of Elsie (the cat) getting along with it…and I definitely wanted a girl dog).  I finally found some puppies at a local rescue place, and we contacted them on Thursday.  We had a fill out an extensive questionnaire (including vet and personal references).  We were notified that we were approved and ended up visiting on Saturday.  We originally had another dog picked out….but Cookie seemed more mellow, so we took her instead….and the rest (as they say) will hopefully be history…

Michael’s golf got cancelled on Monday (1/23) which turned out to be a good thing.  Our baby (Cookie) was right as rain at 8 AM…but by 9 Am was sinking fast.  Throwing up, diarrhea, not eating, not drinking, not moving.  Luckily we had scheduled a ‘meet and greet’ with the vet for 3 PM….which turned into a ‘please tell us what’s wrong and how to fix it’ session.  Cookie got several shots, and some pills and slept all of the day on my lap or Michael’s lap.  Jan and I did manage a visit to AC Moore, Hobby Lobby and Costco, but once I was home at 2:30, I stuck close by.  We ended up having pierogi’s for dinner (yum – potato and cheese!) and watching TV and knitting the rest of the evening.

Cookie, video of Cookie, MIchael w/ panthers cheerleaders

Sorry I've missed posting for a couple of days...but most of Saturday and Sunday were spent picking up and catering to this:

and this:

and this:

and if you want to see her in action:

we did manage to go to the Fort Mill Community Playhouse member meeting.....where this picture was taken:

all in all I'd say Michael had a good weekend  :-)

(if you can tear your eyes away, don't forget to notice the beautiful, hand knit sweater!)

ruffle-y scarves, new ornament

Friday morning (1/20) I was up early for a walk with Beth, then my knitting clinic student arrived at 9.   A couple cancelled, so it was just Barrie and me and that was terrific since we haven’t seen each other in forever and had a lot to talk about.  Barrie left at 11 and Beth picked me up at 11:15 for a luncheon with the ladies.  We had a fun time, and when I got home around 3, I got to get a lot done in my studio.  I sewed in the ends on a bunch of scarves I had previously knit:

and began making ornaments for our Christmas tree for this year:

Thursday morning (1/19) I was up early for a walk with Beth, and by 9:15 I was headed off to quilting.  We had a demo on beading, which was very timely as I am currently beading a wall hanging that I am determined to get up on the wall by the end of this year (needless to say it is a slow project!)  I got home around 2 and had a couple of hours to putz around before getting dressed and picking up Beth and Bill for dinner.  We were invited to a financial seminar at a local, favorite restaurant, so for once we decided to go.  The speaker was excellent, as was the dinner.  We were home by 8ish and watched a bit of TV before bed.  I continued to work on my striped sweater….still in the first color stripe.

Michael left for golf on Wednesday (1/18); he was glad to get to play, but figured that it would be cart path only from the rain Tuesday night.  I spent most of the day making flowers for my quilting paint can challenge (still many, many more to do) and working a tiny bit on the ‘mess that is my desk’  L.  I stopped at 3 PM to make sauce for pasta for dinner, and left at 4 for square dancing.  We came home around 5 (they had just enough couples for 2 squares, so we didn’t stay), ate our pasta and broccoli for dinner and settled in to watch TV and knit.  I started a wool striped sweater for me!

rope tote - nyc

Monday (1/16) was a wonderful, relaxing day.  I got to sew a bit and finished another tote: 

and also continued knitting on some scarves.  Michael got in 10 holes of golf and made potato pancakes for dinner.  It was no fun being back in the cold (it didn’t get into the 50’s until around NOON), but this year is definitely milder than last year so I won’t complain TOO loudly J.

Tuesday was a whirlwind of activity…I headed on over to Nancy’s in the morning where she had absolutely exciting news: she has signed up for a series of weaving lessons!  When I first met Nancy, she owned a 4 harness loom given to her by her aunt.  The original plan was that we would begin to weave together, but as usual, life intervened and Nancy’s life has not been conducive to learning weaving…until now!  I can’t really help her that much with weaving, because we have totally different types of looms….but her first lesson is this coming Saturday and I am totally JEALOUS!!!  I can’t wait to hear all of the good stuff she will learn.  I got another necklace strung with beads while I was at her house, and came home in time to have a quick lunch and head off to knitting club.  I got home around 3:30 and took a walk with Beth, then got a bit of knitting done before having pizza for dinner and heading over to Jan’s house.  Walt and Michael went to the movies (SHERLOCK HOLMES) and Jan and I got to talk and have margaritas and knit!  Michael and I came home at 10 and read for just a bit before heading for bed.

We are here….we are here….we are here….having never read HORTON HEARS A WHO, it was only about 6 years ago that I learned that reference!  Anyway, the cruise ship docked around 7 AM on Sunday the 15^th and we were off the ship by 8:30 and at the airport by 8:45.  We breezed through customs, had a quick bite at the airport and boarded the plane for home.  We were home by 1:30 PM and Elsie proceeded to turn into a big glue ball and stick to us for the rest of the day…whether we were napping or reading or sewing or whatever…she was right there on one of our laps.  It was a fabulous vacation, but I think we are both very glad to be home.

beaded necklace - golden

Thursday (1/5) I was up early to get roll dough made and rising,

then I nipped out for a quick walk with Beth.  I got home, shaped
my rolls and left for quilting.  We had a wonderful time…I got a bit more beading done on a wall hanging, then we had a wonderful luncheon and I got home around 2.  I had time to get the minutes typed up and sent out from quilting and to print out new attendance sheets before Michael and I left for square dancing.  I knit during most of our 2 hour lesson while Michael danced with a variety of women  J.  We had leftovers for dinner and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Friday morning (1/6)  Michael left for golfing and I left for platelet donation.  I stopped at Michael’s and Joann’s on the way home and got home around 2.  Beth and I took a quick walk, and then I got to watch a movie and knit while waiting for Michael to come home from golf.  He came home with an 88 and we had homemade pizza for dinner and watched TV.

Saturday (1/7) Michael left early for horseshoes, and after I took an early morning walk with Beth, I settled in to doing laundry, a little packing, and some sewing.  When Michael came home he decided to take some of his golfing ‘grips’ to be re-done while we were gone, and he also stopped at the consignment shop to drop off another necklace I had finished (click on the picture to make it bigger so that you can clearly see this tiger’s eye effect): 

We had pierogi’s for dinner….finished packing….and tried to get to bed early for our o’dark hundred flight in the morning….

Michael was supposed to tee off at 9:50 AM on Wednesday (1/4), but it was so cold here that he didn’t get off until 1!!  I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning, then spent an hour at Jan’s, trying to get her printer to print (I was unsuccessful…he r son was visiting over Thanksgiving, and linked her printer up to his computer…it hasn’t worked since).  I finally got home around 2 and took a walk with Beth, then it was down to the studio to get working on another tote.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening down there and I think I am about 1/2 way done.

new basket

Tuesday morning Michael left to run errands, and I continued my de-clutter mission.  I’m trying to spend 15 minutes once a day in some room to go through drawers/closets/whatever and get rid of stuff that’s just been taking up space, but not being used.  Nancy came over around 10 and we had our usual gab session.  We finished up after 12 and I packed up all of my stuff and headed off to knitting club.  That lasted until 3, then Jackie came over for a bit of help on her sweater.  Michael went to see THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO, so he wasn’t here  when I got home.  I helped Jackie, had a quick dinner, then packed up and headed out to basket weaving class.  My friend (Bobbi), who already knows how to weave baskets, signed up for this class with me…then she goes off and books a trip to Ohio and misses the class!!!!  I ended up going and got some help from a really nice weaver…this is how far I got:

Everyone seemed to want to leave early, so I packed up too…I know Bobbi will be able to help me finish it once she gets back.  When I got home, I didn’t want to do anything else but snuggle on the couch with my honey…so that’s what we did.

On Monday (1/2) Michael was supposed to go golfing in the morning, but his foursome ended up cancelling because it was TOO COLD (30 degrees at 8 AM).  We did a LOT of paperwork in the morning, and he finally decided to just put in 9 holes on our golf course around 11:30.  Beth and Connie (fellow knitters) came over for a bit of knitting help, and after they left I continued to work on paperwork.  I had a long talk with my friend Cathy (in Delaware) over the weekend…and it prompted me to FINALLY finish cleaning the last 2 cookbook shelves.  Here are the before pics:

and the beautiful and organized after pics:

My desk is still a disaster…but that will be left for another day  J.  I do, however, hope to make 2012, the year of DE-CLUTTERING!!!

NEW YEAR’s DAY – what a fabulously long and relaxing day!  Michael got to go golfing (for the first time under his unlimited golf package) and I spent much time in the studio, finishing off another tote (same fabric as Jan’s, just a bit of different shaping.  The colors are all due to one piece of batik fabric):

I made pesto/grape tomato pizza for dinner and we watched TOOTSIE in the evening and I finished knitting another beaded necklace).

NEW YEAR’s EVE – where has this year gone?  I still remember January, but it seems like everything in between is one big blur!  Michael left for a shot gun golfing start, while I continued to clean and bake and even got a little sewing in.  I continued to work on another smaller rope basket, made a chocolate layer cake with incredible dark chocolate frosting:

made up a basket full of homemade candy (carcker toffee, rocky road, caramel popcorn, pretzel toffee and sugared pecans in the middle):

and for the second time pepperoni bread (which I am mad that once again I didn’t remember to take a picture of  L.

Michael and I were all ready for our guests to arrive at 7, as was Elsie:

There was lots of good food:

and lots of friends to enjoy it with:

                                      (Bob, Bryce, Eileen & Dick)

                    (Dennis (in the back), Jim, Gloria, Don & Jimmy)

                                      (Sally, Dee & Howard)

                                                

                                              (Mary Lu & Sue)

                                           (and Susan & August & Ann Mary)

to show just a few.  We had about 27 people in all and it was a wonderful evening.  The very last guests left at 11:40 and Michael and I celebrated the new year and watched the ball drop at MIDNIGHT, before collapsing into bed.