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.