lots of Cookie & Elsie, towels

I spent Monday (11/28) and Tuesday (11/29) doing a variety of things.  As I mentioned, I spent Monday morning up at the Lake House collecting donations for Angel Tree.  I had another person helping me and he was a regular “chatty Charlie”.  I don’t think I’ve ever met a man that talked as much as this one.  The only reason I minded is that I try to greet everyone that comes into the Lake House when I am collecting donations…that way many of them wander over to my table to see why I am there and some percentage of them make a donation.  That was a bit difficult to do with my “partner” talking non-stop.  Luckily he had mentioned that he had given up card playing that morning to sit at the table with me.  I assured him that it really didn’t take 2 of us to do it, so he headed off to play cards for 45 minutes  :~).  There was more snuggling going on when I got home: 

And I was totally sucked into my library book for most of the day after that.  It is called “Flight Patterns” and the author is Karen White.  I think my friend Ginny first turned me on to this author and I literally could NOT put this book down…thank goodness I finally finished it Monday night while Michael was at rehearsal :~).

I had a morning appointment with my doctor on Tuesday (11/29) and his entire conversation centered around diabetes (I had blood work done 2 weeks ago).  We have been having this same conversation for quite awhile now (as I have been labeled pre-diabetic for awhile)….but this time he told me that if diabetes is a door, I’ve already opened the door and my arm is through and one of my feet is through and the other foot is RIGHT BEHIND the first one  :~(.  I told him that unless he could give me a pill that would alter my BRAIN chemistry, and not my hunger, it wouldn’t work.  He said “why do you eat”…I said “because I’m happy or sad or see a new recipe or think something will taste good or see a picture of food”.  It reminded me of when I called BG one day and said excitedly “I know what makes me eat” and after she breathlessly said “WHAT!?”  I said “breathing”. (ba_da_bing!) Anyway, he said “well, at least you are aware of why you are eating” and I said “yes…but I’ve been aware for quite some time and it still hasn’t made a difference”.  He asked me what I could commit to…and I didn’t reply right away because I didn’t want to lie and tell him something that I KNOW I won’t do.  He finally said “how about 15 minutes of exercise twice a week to start”.  I really think that is do-able…so I said yes…  At first he said walking, but my left knee still gives me a bit of trouble so I asked about bike riding...when he asked me if I had a safe place to ride, I said "yes, my basement".  He said a stationary bike was ok, so when I came home I moved my library books to the basement beside the stationary bike.  So….that’s where I am…he also asked me to make better food choices….I said come on….it’s almost December 1^st and the holiday season has already begun, and he said “diabetes doesn’t recognize the holidays” :~(.  I absolutely know what I SHOULD be doing….but there’s a big disconnect between KNOWING and DOING (I’m not alone here am I?)  I have to have blood work again in 6 weeks (and that was negotiated….he said 4 weeks, I said 2 months, we compromised at 6 weeks)….we’ll see how it goes. 

I stopped at Jan’s on the way home to drop off library books for her to read, and she fed me breakfast…a very healthy one actually  :~).  We looked at her fabric for a new baby quilt and talked about several other sewing things before I headed on home.  I was finally in my studio at 1 PM and ready to be productive.  I started to embroider one of the towels with the new set of masks.  

I had 3 done by the end of the night

While that was stitching out, I got another Clinton quilt on Miss Scarlett and set up the program.  

I spent a pleasant afternoon working on stuff before heading out to pick up a pizza.  Michael and I had dinner together, then he left for rehearsal and I headed back to the studio.  At 8:30 PM I took a little break and sat down at my computer.  I wanted to read some of my food blogs and was trying to figure out what day it was when it hit me….it was TUESDAY!!!!  Stitch & Chat day!!!!!  And I was supposed to go!!!!!!  I immediately called Joanne to apologize…but she said she couldn’t remember how we left it….so she wasn’t sitting at the curb waiting for me to come out...whew!  I guess the diabetes talk totally threw me for a loop and I did not remember AT ALL that it was Tuesday  :~(.  Michael was home close to 10 PM and we talked and watched TV for a bit for the rest of the evening.

I thought I knew what I would write about today, but that was before yesterday afternoon.

Were your parent’s full of “bad luck” sayings?  For me, it was my Aunt Violet.  She would immediately swipe a hat off the bed (that’s supposed to bring bad luck), 3 on a match would make her practically hysterical (of course the validity of that is recognizable to anyone familiar with WWII)….and death always came in three’s.  I got a call yesterday while I was making dinner to tell me that my CT friend Karen B had died.  You might remember me talking about Karen last February/March…she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and I made a pink quilt for her.  She was a lifelong smoker and never wanted to give it up because she really liked smoking, and never thought anything bad would happen.  Monday morning (11/28) I headed up to the Lake House to collect monetary donations for the Volunteer Angel Tree project.  One of the people going by while I was there was our dog sitter.  I asked her how her husband was doing (his voice had been ruined by e-cigarettes) and she told me he had died the week before Thanksgiving.  I was shocked….other than his vocal problem I didn’t realize anything was wrong….but again…he was a lifelong smoker who had no interest in giving it up, and he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  She indicated that it was a horrible end and nothing that anyone would want to go through.  When I got home, I had some lunch and read my newest book for a bit until my phone rang.  When I saw WILMINGTON, DE on the phone I knew….one of my good friend’s brother had died.  He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around Labor Day and basically due to other health problems was never strong enough to get the chemo he needed; he left a 9 year old daughter.

What’s the moral of this story?  I don’t really have one except to say cherish the people that are close to you.

a billion pics of Cookie & Elsie :-)

Sunday (11/27) was definitely a colder day than Saturday….I could tell because the snuggling in the sun was MUCH closer:  

Michael left before 9:30 for golf, and I decided to stay in the kitchen for a bit.  Sometimes in the morning I figure out what I want to make for dinner….but at 3:30 or 4 PM, when I go upstairs to get started….I’m too tired and decide on something quicker and easier.  Sometimes (not often enough though) I manage to talk myself into doing dinner prep work in the morning when I’m fresh, and this was one of those days.  I got my celery, onions and carrots all chopped (and it was certainly fun after watching all of the chopping/cooking in JULIE & JULIA), and I covered them all with my shower caps and put them in the fridge: 

before heading to my studio.  First up, I fired up Miss Scarlett to continue to quilt, then got my first towel set up and started to stitch it out.  As I suspected, the towel took over 2 hours to stitch out…and the stitching was way too dense on the towel...although it looks pretty nice:   

This lead me back to the internet to search for another design.  I found something with less stitches and I bought it, but I waited until Michael came home to approve my choice!  In the meantime I continued to quilt on the Rainbow/black and I made binding for it: 

 When I went upstairs to meet my quilting client, there was MORE snuggling going on:  

When they are like this…I just want to take a thousand pictures because they are SO CUTE!!!  

Cheryle came by to pick up her quilt, and she seemed very pleased with the quilting: 

Around 4 PM I headed upstairs to put together my newest recipe….Creamy Turkey & Wild Rice Soup.  Cooking it took a bit longer than expected….so we didn’t sit down to eat until 6:30…but Michael said the soup was delicious….SCORE!  

I knit for the rest of the evening while we watched TV.  The Thanksgiving loo_o_o_ong weekend is over…~sigh~

Minty Crisps, rainbow/black quilt started

Decades ago I decided that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday…and when my eyes opened on Saturday morning(11/26), and I realized it was still ONLY Saturday…I confirmed that decision yet again!  I LOVE those 4 days in a row :~).  Saturday was another busy morning in the kitchen.  Michael left at 9 AM for rehearsal, and I started in making Minty Crisps.  I made 4 runs of those, 

almost the same equipment as yesterday

with my normal morning company…warming in the sun:

and Michael bagged it all up once he got home around 2 PM.  

running out of space already and I've only done 2 treats!

I got sucked into one of my library books yet again in the afternoon…but while I was reading I got a delivery of towels that I hope to embroider for cast gifts for the SCROOGE cast.  Michael told me he needs 15 of them….so in the late afternoon I got cracking.  First, I set up the pattern for my newest quilt and got 2 rows done on it:  

trying out a new pattern yet again :-)

While those were stitching out, I started in with my embroidery pattern.  It took me a bit of time to get the embroidery set up and the stabilizer all cut, and it was 6 PM by the time I finished.  Since each embroidery has over 32,000 stitches, I thought one would take too long to stitch out before dinner, so I headed upstairs for leftover Chinese and the  JULIE & JULIA movie that we haven’t seen in forever.  This movie is GREAT…if you haven’t seen it, you should get it from the library…unless you live near me and you may certainly borrow it!   

White Trash, Cheryle's quilt done, Cookie

Michael moved all of my candy supplies to the kitchen table:

on Friday (11/25) so that I would have room to work on the island, before taking off for a walk with Cookie.  You know, it was really easy to shop for supplies this year, because last year I finally made a master list which combined everything I needed into one spreadsheet:  

Made it super easy to pick up stuff  :~).  Anyway, I moved what I needed for my first gift onto the island:   

and went to work.  I made 6 runs of white trash:   

And when Michael came home he bagged it all up for me (the 2 large bags are for the golf course staff….the inside AND outside staff):  

first gift highlighted as done!

I put my feet up and read my library book after that and finally headed downstairs around 1 PM.  I got all of the bobbin ends woven in our the newest customer quilt: 

and also finished up the embroideries on the last 2 bags for Pat:  

Michael and I took a drive in the late afternoon to deliver the last 4 bags to Pat, along with 2 bars of my soap that she wants to give as a grab bag gift to her card group.  When we got home, we headed back downstairs and I cut a double length of fleece and got it loaded up on Miss Scarlett to try to knock out some of my quilt tops:  

do you ALWAYS have to be taking my picture??

By then it was dinnertime and Michael and I had a reprise of Thanksgiving, then settled into watch TV and rip stitches out from old backing fabric.

goodie supplies, Cookie & Elsie, Thankgiving!

I headed out before 8 AM on Wednesday (11/23) to hit WALMART for gift towels (of COURSE they don’t carry what I want anymore  :~(, and to BJ’s to get the rest of the goodie bag supplies:  

I was home by 11 AM and about 150 bucks poorer, but I think I now have everything I need.  I changed clothes and headed downstairs, determined to make a big dent in the quilting on the newest customer quilt.  I got most of it complete by dinnertime, when I ran out to get Chinese for us for dinner.  After that we just snuggled on the couch and watched TV while I knit on a scarf for the rest of the evening. 

*************

Thanksgiving Thursday (11/24) was a fabulous day!  Although many years we have lots of people over, this year we decided it was just going to be us…that made it a VERY relaxing day.  Michael headed out to the golf course for a shotgun start at 10 AM and I finished up the quilt (although I still have to weave in a bunch of bobbin ends):

I worked a bit more on more cleaning in my studio: 

look at all of this cool stuff mom put out just for us to lie on  :-)

and got 2 more bags embroidered for Pat:  

In the afternoon I put together green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy and got our turkey breast in the oven, while Michael baked up potatoes and got out cranberry sauce.  We had a fabulous THANKSGIVING dinner (note the lack of rolls…since it was just the 2 of us and our plates were already full of starch…I decided to forgo for this year):  

After that we lay in our tryptophan stupor for the rest of the evening!