Category Archives: Health

Numbers don’t lie

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Terri | 4 comments

This is going to be another painful, for me, post. My last weapon came in Wednesday and I purposefully put it aside and didn’t touch it until yesterday. I’ve had some “that’s life” things going on this week and I didn’t want it to influence the decisions I was making. I know that events are going to come up where I make not-so-healthy food choices (like that PBJ I had). I can’t believe how angry I was with myself over that, but I’m glad. I now have things on my grocery list that will help me make batter decisions in the future. Now, here’s my new weapon:

I have a first generation Tanita scale that is over 6 years old. Actually it about 12, but it belonged to Mister first, and it was 6 years ago that I used it last. I know this because it’s set for when I was 49. The directions are long gone, and I’ve thought about replacing it many times (Mister has a newer, high-tech version), but it still weighs fine, so I decided to get a hand-held weapon that will calculate my fat percentage and BMI. Ouch. In the past I probably would have wept. Now I’m just mad that I let myself get to this.

So. This week’s numbers:

Beginning weight: 266
Last week: 257
This week: 255.8 (-1.2)
Total loss to date: -10.2

Beginning measurements: (C 45.5 – W 47.8 – H 54.8)
Last week / This week:
Chest 45.5 / 45.2 (-.3 / -.3)
Waist 47.8 / 47.2 (-.6 / -.6)
Hips 54.8 / 54.6 (-.2 / -.2)

Beginning fat%/BMI: 47.2% / 40.6

Was I disappointed to see a 1.2 pound loss instead of something in the 2’s like it’s been? Yes, but then no. I’ve lost 10.2 pounds in 4 weeks! It’s been so easy! Frightfully so. This past week I ate bread. I drank a beer. I went out to lunch. I had an ice cream. I had movie theater popcorn (without the extra “butter”) and I shared a diet soda with Mister while we enjoyed a movie. These are the “that’s life” things that I mentioned in the first paragraph that I know are going to happen. That I want to keep happening. This time, though, I refuse to wait until tomorrow to get back with the program.

The movie was yesterday afternoon. I had an excellent breakfast and lunch, enjoyed that popcorn and diet soda (well, not so much the soda), then had an excellent dinner. No, I’m not going to make an excuse. I’m not going to “blame” the lack of a “2” on water retention from the popcorn last night. I’m going to “blame” anything at all.

This morning when I went downstairs for my coffee I found this on the counter.

Mister told me he pulled them out to read the contents/nutrition info to decide whether to keep them or throw them out 😀

Oh, and there’s one more weapon I completely forgot about. The camera. I’m not going to shy away from that anymore either. I’ve lost too many wonderful memories because of it.

4 Comments

Posted in Life, Weight

Yep, this is going to leave a mark.

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Terri | 4 comments

It’s numbers check in day for me, and I have a new weapon.

I know now is not that time, but since I’ve been there, done that so many times, I know there will come a point when the scale will stop moving and I will get discouraged, and that discouragement over the scale will cause me to fail.

Keeping that in mind I’ve decided to add 2 more indicators to my visual arsenal. The first, obviously, is my scale. Here’s what it had to say this morning: 257

Last week: 259.4
This week’s loss: -2.4
Total loss to date: -9

Yeah. You see those numbers. I’m baring my soul and putting it all out there. It’s hard, and it’s scary, but it is what it is and no matter if I put it here or not, it’s still there.

So.

My second weapon is a digital tape measure. This one:

It is taking a bit of playing to get used to the buttons, because it will save your measurements (the saving is the part I’m having trouble with). It’s stupid easy to use just to measure, though, if you want to paper track. It has 8 default measuring areas but I only plan to track my chest, waist, and hips. These 3 will be perfect indicators for progress and figuring out what size clothing I need to be wearing. It will also measure bicep, thigh, calf, shoulder, and neck.

Here’s what it had to say this morning:

Chest 45.5
Waist 47.8
Hips 54.8

Yeah. Ouch. But, I’m really excited for next Tuesday to get here so I can see what it says.

The third weapon in my arsenal isn’t here yet, drat, so you’re going to have to wait. 😀

4 Comments

Posted in Weight

Tagged digital tape measure

Cha, cha, cha, changes!

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Terri | 5 comments

or, Change No. 1

First, there was me, and since there’s so much of me, this is going to be a huge post. No pictures, tho.

Four months ago at my semi-annual checkup I had a discussion with my doctor about how my blood sugar levels were continually creeping higher and higher by tiny, tiny increments. I told her that I didn’t want them to get to the point where I was desperate, but looking back today, I think I was already there.

(Let me take a minute and say that I have really liked my doctor because she never rushes me out, always takes care of something that’s come up between the time I’ve scheduled my appointment, and my actual appointment, and she always thoroughly discusses the many options she gives me to take care of whatever reason I’m there. I just found out yesterday that she’s leaving and I’m crushed.)

So one of the things we discussed was my taking, for 3 months, 1 daily dose of the oral anti-diabetic drug Metformin. I. HATED. IT. It really threw my body for a loop. I had super low-blood sugar days where I constantly felt like my head was a balloon. I had a few days where I almost fell over in a faint. I had days where I had no energy no matter what I did. I had nose-bleeds that scared Mister. I hated that I was taking a pill. I stopped taking it a month ago and I cannot believe the difference in how I feel now that I’m not taking it anymore.

Also during that time I read and read and read and read books about diabetes. I spent so much time online researching tons of things (many so conflicting!), that I didn’t feel like being on the computer to do anything else – which is another reason my blog has suffered.

It was depressing! I wasn’t stitching, I wasn’t quilting, and I wasn’t reading – except about diabetes.

Then something happened. Someone I know mentioned doing Whole30. Since I’d never heard of it before, and as I’m prone to do, I switched my reading to that. I read a new word, but it got filed away in my head. After reading all about it, I decided it wasn’t for me because I wouldn’t be “allowed” to eat so many things that I felt were good for me.

Then something else happened. Someone else I know has a mother, who was close to my age, change her lifestyle and she went Paleo. There was that word! So I jumped online and started reading some more, and I bought a book that explained why eating Paleo is good for you, instead of just being told to do it and look good in a bathing suit (which, at my age, I don’t care about anymore).

Here’s how I basically define Paleo = grain-free, dairy-free, legume-free, modern vegetable oil-free, refined sugar-free, and processed food-free.

Now, before anyone rolls their eyes, and leaves, let me say my blog is not turning into one of those paleo-fanatic, don’t talk about anything else, blogs. I just need somewhere to write down how this is working for me. Would it be great to get some support, sure, but that’s not why I’m sharing this.

Ok, now for the last thing that happened that pushed me over the edge to just go for it. MISTER IS TRAINING FOR TRIATHLONS AGAIN.

Yep. I’m back to cooking for an athlete again. I know I should have started this for me, but if his training is the nudge I needed to do this, then I’ll take it.

I read about so many ways to get started. From throw everything in your pantry away and go cold turkey to slowly transition into it. I didn’t want to overwhelm me or my pocketbook so I decided to ease into it.

About 3 weeks ago I had some oral surgery. Since I knew 1/4 of my mouth would be full of stitches I decided that day was the day to start. Nope, it wasn’t the 1st day of the month, and it wasn’t on a Monday. Isn’t that always when we begin these things? Since I had decided to do this one step at a time, I made the decision to cut out bread from my diet.

The first week, instead of eating bread 2x a day almost every day, I had bread once. I also had some saltines at the beginning of the week because the pain meds I was taking from my surgery made me nauseous and that helped.

Does this mean I’ll never eat bread again? Nope. I love me a Diamondbacks Hot Dog. I love a good hamburger out with friends. Pasta. Enchiladas. I love “bread.” What this means is that I am going to do my utmost to not eat bread except for special occasions. We grilled burgers the other night and I made mine the exact same way I always have, except I ate it with a fork and knife because it wasn’t between two halves of a bun. I now buy bread that I don’t care for, but Mister likes, and I keep things like burger buns in the freezer and thaw 1 or 2 out for Mister. We had dinner out with friends a few days ago and they served biscuits. I had half of one. It wasn’t good enough for me to finish the other half.

Bread is not the only change I’ve made. As things run out I have either stopped buying them completely, or I’ve changed over to a “whole food” or “organic” variety. I just now realized I haven’t had a potato chip in all this time, and I love potato chips. I know there are some in the cabinet (lunch size bags), but I have no craving for them. I’ve switched from half-and-half in my coffee to unsweetened almond milk. I honestly cannot taste the difference. Which brings me to my next thought.

I try to never say “never.” LOL I’m not going to say I’ll never give up dairy. I love milk, and cheese, but I have eaten less of it over the past couple of weeks, without trying. I’m not going to say I’ll never give up grains. Right now I’m making refrigerator oatmeal a couple of times a week. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I’m not going to be anal about it. I’m just going to go with this and see where it takes me. I will say there are some things in my pantry that have never been there before (ghee, coconut oil, chia seeds) and I’m eating things like spinach and kale for breakfast. The only hard part so far is not being lazy with the cooking because we’re in the 115 degree days here in Arizona, but I’m trying to make things that will last 3 meals or so, like Crock Pot Pulled Pork.

Even as things slowly change I know there are certain things I need to seriously consider giving up. Right now I’m contemplating artificial sweetener. This one will seriously impact my life. I love Starbucks’ Skinny Vanilla Lattes. Starbucks does not serve almond milk (and I’ve tried soy with a yuck outcome) and their skinny sweeteners are made with artificial sweetener. So for now when I get a Starbucks it’s just their shaken black tea, no classic 😉 I do have some of the Torani Sugar-Free French Vanilla that I use at home. I used to be a 3-pump girl, now I’m a 2-pump girl. I have one more bottle in my pantry, and I’ll switch to 1-pump when I open that one, and then none. That seems so impossible to me now.

Next will come the physical part. Stitching, quilting, reading, they’re all so sedentary and I have no intention of giving up any of them. I have a membership at our local YMCA and next Tuesday after I have my follow-up dental appointment – and hopefully all the stitches are removed – I’m headed over there to talk to a personal trainer.

So how is all of this going to impact my blog. I’ll be posting numbers and recipes, and the occasional photo. Sort of like this 😀

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

3-4 lb pork shoulder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea or kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper – freshly cracked pepper has the most flavor
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp honey or agave
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Massage the salt into both sides of the roast. Mix the other spices together and rub into both sides of your roast. Place in the slowcooker. Mix your liquid smoke, agave/honey and water together and pour over the roast. Cover. Set the cooker to low, and allow to cook 8-10 hours.

NOTE: If you’re using smoked salt you may not need the liquid smoke. This is a repeat recipe for me and I use the leftovers to make several other meals like tacos, and asian lettuce wraps 😀

7/8/14 0/0
7/15/14 -4/-4
7/22/14 -2.6/-6.6

If anyone asks me a question, I’ll gladly answer it, but you aren’t going to find a ton of “this is what I ate today” posts here, or tons of “food” photos. Who wants to see a bunch of photos of sliced organic tomatoes, steamed veggies, salad, meat, day in and day out. Unless it’s a recipe, you won’t be hearing about what I’m eating, except when I maybe share something I’m changing or giving up.

I promise my next post will be more “fun.” I’ve updated my quilt page at the top, and written down all of my WIPs. I’ll be talking about a few of them.

5 Comments

Posted in Life, Recipe, Weight

Move along, nothing to see here

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Terri | 1 comment

My life has been blessedly boring of late!

My first half-day back to work about killed me, but not near as much as my first full-day back. I was so tired that night I almost cried. But the next morning when I got up I was fine, so I knew I was going to eventually get over it. The second full-day back I realized about 2 hours from closing that I was just then getting tired. Next day, no problems at all. Yay for recovery! I still have a couple of sore “spots” but they’re slowly going away.

The only purchase I’ve made the past couple of weeks was a new-to-me book. Scrap-Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett. I was at the shop yesterday looking over the upcoming classes list and meeting a friend for lunch. A new quilt had been put up since I worked on Thursday and it was from this book. There are 18 quilts in it and they’re all from 2 1/2″ strips.

So the numbers from my last Sunday Stash Report remain the same.

Fabric added this week : 0
Fabric out this week : 0
Fabric added this year (April – present): 149 3/4
Fabric out this year (April – present): 51 1/2

I’m waiting on backordered black batting for Son’s Quilt. I added one more row to Niece’s tumbler quilt. I got the hourglass blocks sewn together last Saturday, but discovered, while looking at a photo I took, that one row is wrong so I’ll be unsewing and fixing that. I still haven’t cut the fabric for future-DIL’s quilt, or my own! I do have fabric on hold for the background of my quilt, so next week I’ll be adding fabric to my stash report.

But I’ll also be pulling fabric since I’ve decided to participate in Bonnie Hunter’s upcoming mystery. I went to Lowe’s Friday and pulled her paint chips but I also pulled some in the same colorway but darker in tone since that’s more me. I’m keeping her orange, though. Nothing dreary. I figure this will probably be a perfect quilt for one of the nephews.

I need to get busy! I’m headed back to Cali in a couple of weeks for a needlework retreat and trying to decide whether or not I want to bring my machine, the tumbler quilt, and maybe a JMLW project or 3. Decisions, decisions. I’ll be visiting with Son for 3 days prior to that so everything would be in the trunk of my car during then and I don’t know if I feel safe leaving it there. LOL

1 Comment

Posted in Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt, Falling Charms Quilt, Mystery Quilts, Sunday Stash Report, surgery, Travel, Tumbler Quilt

Sunday Sewing and Stash Report

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Terri | 3 comments

I had my post-op appointment with the surgeon this week. I’ve pretty much been released to do whatever I want as long as I listen to my body and rest during the day. Woohoo! There won’t be any problem with the listening portion since I can tell when it’s time to rest and have had no problem taking a nap. I sort of immediately nod off when it’s time 😉 Tomorrow is another doctor appointment and hopefully I’ll be on the track to normal again after that one. I do get to start back to work, part-time, on Tuesday.

I also sewed this past week. I had a Tumbler Quilt class on Thursday evening and went in early to buy the fleece for my design wall and get it cut and sewn together. I used it that evening too, and it’s currently rolled up with the beginnings of the Tumbler Quilt. I was exhausted when I got home since it’s the first time I’ve bent over that much (it was all spread out on the floor and the shop owner did the majority of the moving around for me since I still can’t get down that far. LOL). Mister is out of school Monday and Tuesday and I’m hoping he can help me get it hung up. Here’s what the quilt looks like so far (it will be going to my niece):

I also attended my first Civil War Club meeting on Friday morning. We are working on the majority of the items in The Blue and The Grey and our first project is a tablerunner. Most of the other ladies left after noon, but since I had my machine set up (still there from Thursday evening) I finished sewing all my hourglass blocks together. I was worn out when I got home.

This weekend is my Virtual Quilting Retreat (email me if you’re interested) and I have so far spent the time squaring up the hourglass blocks and have started sewing them into rows, and then those rows being pieced together.

Here are a few of the blocks on one of the border fabrics.

If this gets finished I’ll be working more on the tumblers.

I did purchase fabric this week, but only the border fabric for the tablerunner 😀

Fabric added this week : 1/3
Fabric out this week : 7 3/8
Fabric added this year (April – present): 149 3/4
Fabric out this year (April – present): 51 1/2

Last, but not least, here’s a progress photo of my Elizabeth Sheffield reproduction sampler. Still loving her, and working on her most evenings.

3 Comments

Posted in Elizabeth Sheffield, Health, Sunday Stash Report, Tumbler Quilt, Virtual Quilting Retreat

A full month – a long post

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Terri | 4 comments

and I’m not just talking about it being almost a full month since I’ve blogged. This month has been full from a great many areas!

I bought the border, binding, and backing fabric for Son’s Falling Charms quilt. We were busy in the shop that day so I didn’t get a chance to take a picture. Since Son’s quilt is predominantly black, including the black batik I bought for the backing, I’m going to use black batting, and that needs to be ordered (waiting for Shop Hop to be over). I’m going to use a separate post to add in/subtract out the fabric I’ve added (ahem) since my last Sunday Stash Report.

I also bought the batting I needed for Caramel Corn. I think I’m going to love using it. It’s specially made for tablemats, and runners, meaning it’s narrow, and is very thin.

Prior to my trip Whittle’s Fabrics put their Mourning Grays on sale for $5.00 a yard so I bought several 1/2-yard cuts. They arrived the day before I left and with everything that’s been going on with me this month, I just opened the package this morning.

1/2yd Mourning Grays & Purples

Then it was off to California to stay with my friend Darla, and get to visit with my friend Melissa. I left early Thursday morning (9/5) and got there around 3 p.m. Melissa was able to meet us for dinner that night and it was so good to get some quality hugs from those two!

I had scheduled my trip to fall during the first weekend of the month so I could attend Stitchy Saturday at the needlework shop. For reasons I can’t remember it was canceled for September and October, so I mentioned to Darla, prior to my arrival, that I wanted to find a quilt shop to visit instead to purchase some fabric for my upcoming Civil War Club quilt. I brought my The Blue and The Gray book (which I proceeded to leave behind on my bed! LOL)

I had no idea that Darla and her mom were quilters. I had the cutest quilt on my bed. Darla mapped out a 7-shop Shop Hop for us so Friday morning we got up, went out for a great breakfast and headed out to burn the town down. A few shops into our Hop I found one that had a copy of my left-behind book and was pleased to see that for once my memory had hung in there long enough for me to get what I needed 😉

One of the shops had closed down (so sad), and one of the shops was a dye-your-own-fabric business (they let us come in and walk around and it was fascinating in a warehouse sort of way), but the other 5 didn’t let me down. One in particular has several older Jo Morton fabrics and I half-filled a new frequent shopper punch card for Darla with my purchase. LOL

Here are some snaps:

Most of the shirtings, the browns, and the reds, will be going into my Civil War Club quilt. The rest is going into my stash 😉

I was so worried prior to my trip that I wouldn’t get to visit with Melissa since she’s on the backside of finishing up her college courses for graduation, and her job has been a little crazy. She had some down-time Saturday morning so met us for breakfast at IHOP. I had never been there, and I love breakfast food for any meal of the day. I ended up ordering a chicken fried steak breakfast since it was getting close to lunch time and figured I would just not be eating again until dinner. There was so much food and no way was I able to eat it all. It was very good, though, and I know I ate more than I should have, as witnessed by my WW point tracking! LOL

Darla had a storage facility that we planned a trip to so she could pick up her Hannah Beeby sampler. One of our stops the day before was to a fairly new needlework shop and they were having a framing sale so we were hoping to get Hannah over there. Not long after we left IHOP (I was driving) I began to have a really sharp pain under my left breast. I can be a drama queen, but I have to tell you I had never hurt this bad, this fast, in my life. Bam, it was there. It was hard to breathe, and sweat was running down my face, from the pain. I ended up sitting in the car while she went into her storage and looked for the sampler (which she couldn’t find!). I felt if I could just sit and relax for a bit it would go away so asked Melissa if we could follow her to her house and hang out for a little while and visit before she had to hit the books again. During the drive to her house, just like that, the pain disappeared! I even called her and asked where the nearest Starbucks was and she said she knew I must be feeling better if I wanted Starbucks. 😆

At the end of our visit, Melissa brought out fabric, that she had purchased to take her first quilt class, and gave it to me. Such a beautiful surprise! I remember when she signed up for it several years ago, but either illness or something from work, kept her from taking it.

Backing, border, and binding

FQs for blocks (pattern is Yellow Brick Road)

Sunday it bothered me again off and on, but nothing major, more just a reminder that it had happened. Monday morning, we got up and headed to Downtown Disney for chicory (for me) and beignets for breakfast and I left from there to head to Son’s house.

The first time I saw the ocean as I was driving down the coast I started crying and immediately thought to myself that I had made a huge mistake in moving to Arizona. I love the ocean. If we ever win the lottery we’ll be buying a cottage there.

It was so good to see Son and get a squeeze hug from him. He looks so good and I can tell he’s been doing very well. We headed downtown to eat on the beach (fish and chips) and it was nice to sit and talk with him and walk along the pier and watch the surfers and sea gulls, and of course the people! We decided to just head back to his house and visit (we had originally planned to go to the movies) and I encouraged him to do his laundry since I knew Monday was his only day off. It was fun just sitting there and listening to everything that’s been going on with him and his future plans.

After his roommate got home from work Son decided he was taking us out to dinner at a place his friends had been raving about one of the appetizers. We headed over to my hotel to get me checked in, the boys brought my suitcase up, and we hung out there for a few minutes to make sure the A/C was going to work properly. I have eaten at the steak house a few times and knew the rest of the food was good, too, so I had only a couple of bites of the appetizer (which really was delicious) and had a petite prime rib, baked potato and salad for dinner. Not a ton of food plus I didn’t eat everything on my plate, but about 1/2 an hour after we were back at his house I started to feel ill again. This time it was a gradual build up. I was leaving really early the next morning so left Son’s around 8:30 and immediately went to bed. My pain work me up a couple of times, but again never as severe as it was the first time, and it was gone the next morning.

Tuesday morning I got up at 5:30, showered, checked out of my room, hit the local Starbucks I used to go to all the time, topped off my car with gas, sent Son a text, called Mister and hit the road. It was way too early for breakfast and I didn’t feel hungry at all. I’ve traveled this route enough times to know where the rest stops and safe to stop places are, plus it gives me a good routine to stretch my legs. I was home before 2 p.m and even beat Mister home from his classes.

I was tired when I got up Wednesday morning so skipped Bag Ladies, but had to go to a pre-Shop Hop meeting at work that evening to learn how to do our demonstration. Thursday I worked, Saturday we had dinner out with Annette and family. Prior to that I had been texting her about my stomach issues and she suggested I try something like Pepcid AC. I thought it was working but after a couple of days it stopped and I continued to have flair ups, but only after evening meal. Sunday I went to Sampler Sunday at Attic.

Tuesday the 17th I worked and managed to get the borders cut for Son’s quilt (I need to buy a wider ruler!) and fabric bought for future-DILs quilt

24FQ of various Bonnie & Camille fabrics

Thursday (19th) as I was leaving for work I noticed water on the garage floor and the driveway. I called Mister, who had left an hour prior to that and he hadn’t noticed anything. Some time during that hour the hot water heater had decided to commit suicide. Mister ended up coming home and calling a repair person who was able to meet him after his other class so he only had to miss one. I stressed off and on all afternoon about what was going on but because he was in class (and I didn’t know this) I couldn’t reach him. We were busy getting the shop ready for Friday’s Shop Hop opening. I had a regular lunch and had a few slices of apple and almost immediately the pain started building. I thought maybe it was heartburn because of the stress of home and work, but I decided I might want to go to the doctor. It proceeded to get worse as the day went on, but I stayed an hour after closing to help out, then headed home. The Minick & Simpson MidWinter Reds pre-cuts came in the day before so I got to bring home a FQ Bundle that I had requested. It’s going to be turned into a scrappy Irish Chain for me using a pattern in Bonnie Hunter’s Adventures With Leaders and Enders book.

Minick & Simpson Midwinter Reds FQ Bundle

That night we had dinner around 6:30 and I went to bed at 8:30 and as the night progressed it got so bad that I was panting trying to breathe and pacing every 30 minutes to an hour trying to get it to stop plus had thrown up. When Mister got up to feed the dogs Friday morning at 6 I asked him to come back upstairs while I showered and then asked him to take me to the ER.

We have a small 35-private room hospital by us and because it’s so small it didn’t take very long to have a nurse check me in and a doctor see me. She immediately put me on oxygen and started a drip of morphine for the pain. After asking a few questions about prior surgeries, how long I’d been in pain, etc., she said “If we send you home today…” and I immediately accepted that it was something serious. Over the course of the morning and into early afternoon she was in and out of my room encouraging me to have as much pain relief as I needed and talking to me about her various suspicions. I had originally gone back by myself but sometime during all that she brought Mister back so I sort of turned off my brain at that point and she began to talk mostly to Mister about what was going on. Even with the morphine they were pumping into me I still had pain, but I had stopped panting to breathe. She sent me down for a CT Scan, that confirmed I had a very infected gallbladder (which got me a huge dose of penicillin in my drip) that was 3x the size it should have been and inside was a golf-ball sized stone. She consulted with the surgeon who had an ultrasound made (which I got to see) and the next thing I knew I was being wheeled down the hall to be prepped for surgery.

With the exception of the surgeon – who needs to practice on his bedside manners – every single person in that hospital treated me like a princess from the time I got there to the time I left. I spent a good long time talking to Jeremy the anesthesiologist guy about my allergies and how I can go about being tested for confirmation. At one point I had 3 people pulling and tugging on me and said “Stop!” and they did. I explained to them that they were all coming at me at once and sort of freaking me out. They apologized and took turns explaining what they were doing/needed to do to get me into surgery and it helped tremendously. I was so thankful that they listened to me since I felt like I was going into a panic attack. After surgery not a single person came in to see me that didn’t stay for a bit and chat, including the sweet lady who delivered my breakfast the next morning because she wanted to be sure that I liked what I ordered, and Hugo who cleaned my room from top to bottom. The two nurses I had (one male, one female) were extremely good and their support staff great as well.

So it’s been a week. Yesterday I ventured out to sit in the car while Mister dropped off something at the PO, sat in Staples and waited to turn 3 quilt books in to have them spiral bound, went to the shop to get my Shop Hop Passport stamped 😉 and visit with my coworkers (it was so nice to see their faces), and then out to lunch. I needed a 2-hour nap when I got home but it was fantastic to be out of the house and get to talk to people again. After a couple of really rough days I’m feeling so much better and started cutting my pain meds back to 1/2 dose yesterday. Other than a quick sit yesterday this is the first day I’ve been back in my craft room and it feels nice to play with the fabric.

My nails look like crap from all the tape that’s been on them. I discovered shaving my legs is a contortion sport – yeah, I should have waited, since I ended up sitting on the side of the tub for 15 minutes afterward trying to get my legs to stop shaking so I could stand. I’m covered in bruises from the 4 different IVs and a blood draw, I have 2 2-3″ incisions, and 2 punctures from the laparoscopic part of the surgery and 1 puncture from the drain I had to have because of all the infection (which fortunately they removed before I left the hospital). I am a hot mess, but I can finally hold a thought longer than a second and I’m not shaking all the time. I’m just about over the what-ifs, since the surgeon told Mister after surgery that it was very infected and I’m lucky it didn’t burst during my trip, or worse, on the 6-hr drive back by myself through the desert.

The upside. It’s gone and I don’t have to worry about it bothering me again. I left the hospital on a low-fat diet, and am down 8+ pounds from Monday (I was up 4#s from all the IV drips, etc. on Monday). LOL Mister has been the best male nurse, woke me up when I needed to take my meds, cooked, went to the grocery store, kept up with the laundry for the most part and fussed at me for trying to do too much too soon. Jasper has been my other good male nurse plastering himself to my side in bed at night and not moving once. Harley has thought I smelt funny though and not had much to do with me. The hard part of that is I can’t pick up anything heavier than 10 pounds which means I haven’t been able to pick them up and hold them and of course it hurts for them to sit in my lap anyway. Plus it was near impossible to get up and down from the couch until a couple of days ago. I’ve watched more TV that I can’t remember over the past week, but hopefully that’s over. I’m supposed to be able to start driving again on Monday and then the next Tuesday is my follow-up surgeon appointment and hopefully he’ll be telling me I can go back to work.

I’m ready to sew again! Especially after fondling my fabrics this morning for their photo shoots. Oh and I may have bought 3 new quilt books but I’ll save them to share another day.

My nurse is calling and it’s time for lunch and my medicine 😉

4 Comments

Posted in And They Sinned, Elizabeth Sheffield, Falling Charms Quilt, Health

Some days contain good and bad

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Terri | 2 comments

I hate growing older. There are so many things that can go wrong to cut into precious “to-do” time. I’m not a hypochondriac by any stretch of the imagination but I do worry sometimes about illnesses suffered by long gone family members and how it can affect my own health. I also dislike strongly not being able to talk to family members about my own health concerns. My family has never been one to share things, plus I live very far away from them (my choice). Sigh. I also tend to let my imagination get away with me sometimes when the doctor orders certain tests. Anyway, I got my blood work results back today from a couple of weeks ago and I’m a-okay in everything. There are a couple of areas that I’m trying to make better but it was a rough couple of months and I may have splurged on some sugar a bit here and there 😉 so instead of blood sugar levels being better they were the same as they were the last time she tested. However, she also ordered some more blood work and ordered me a referral based on a conversation we had this morning following her “How have you been feeling” question. I hate getting older.

So that was the bad part of my day.

I’ve spent the majority of the rest of the day in my studio. I had hoped to finish up on the gift but I don’t have enough of the binding material to finish. I’ll pick up some more Tuesday when I go to work.

Speaking of work, I’m having fun with it! This past Tuesday I cut so much fabric for customers that I truly thought my arm was going to fall off at the end of the day. The next day it was sore! I’m still doing a little following around, but am feeling more comfortable helping customers on my own. Got my first paycheck too 😉

But I digress. After I ran out of material for my binding, I turned to cutting fabric and piecing a signature block for an exchange I’m signed up for. I’ve never done anything like this before and it’s rather intimidating to think that I need to make 59 of these 6 1/2″ blocks.

I have a couple of baskets of scraps I’m using so none of them will look the same. I have until September to get them all finished and I’m trying to make 5 a day.

2 Comments

Posted in Health, Life, Quilting, Signature Swap, Studio, Work

Back to our regularly scheduled program!

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Terri | Comments Off

Surprise! Or maybe I should say, be careful what you say. In my last post on February 1 (yikes!), the last thing I said was that I would be back to let you know what type of trouble I had been into. Well……get ready for a long, picture-free catch up post.

Sunday night, February 3, I came down with the norovirus, and it wasn’t pretty. It was rather easy to rule it out as food poisoning since Mister and I ate the exact same things all day long (Super Bowl Sunday). I can say that I have never been more frightened in all of my life about being sick. At one point I thought I was on the way to the emergency room, since I was throwing up so violently my nose was bleeding, and I managed to separate my ribs under my right arm. Scary stuff! I couldn’t eat any food for a couple of days and drank as much Gatorade as I could that first two days. It took me the better part of a week to be able to take a shower and dry my hair without breaking out in a sweat from the activity.

We had excellent seat tickets to The Who concert that Wednesday night and Mister ended up getting valet parking next to our gate so I wouldn’t have to walk far. I was also on an aisle seat in case I felt the need to get out of there in a hurry but it was all good and while I was tired by the end of the evening and slept extra late the next morning it was “adventure” free.

Then, of course, I got sick again. This time it was a head and chest cold that would not go away. Naturally I had to cough and feel like I was going to split open since I was still somewhat recovering from my ribs hurting. I was worried it was trying to turn into bronchitis. Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I haven’t coughed.

Other than that the other trouble I’ve been up to is putting away what I purchased at the Quilt Fair (where I probably caught that nasty virus), I’ve cleaned up more in my room, started sorting through what I’m going to sell, and attended my first Jo Morton Little Women Club meeting at 3 Dudes Quilting.

Let me share the funny about that!

I live very far south of Phoenix and our weather was unbelievably freaky last Wednesday. Knowing we were in for some heavy rain and I knew I lived at least an hour away from the shop I left the house at 8:15 so I could get there when the shop opened at 9:30 to look around — new shop to me. The people and instructor in the class were SO friendly and it was obvious that several of them have been quilting together in classes for a long time (some even just got back from a cruise). They made me feel like one of them. The instructor put the first “block” of the quilt on the board and I knew immediately something was off. While she kept talking about how she chose her colors and about the finer points of making the block I pulled my phone out and looked up the flyer online and duh, I was in the wrong class! LOL I’m such an airhead! LOL My class didn’t start until 1….not 10! I quickly packed up said a hasty “oops, I’m in the wrong class” and tried to leave. They tried to talk me into staying but I told them I had errands to run. I called Mister when I got in the parking lot and told him what happened and he told me to occupy myself in this part of the state since the weather was so nasty. While I was out I grabbed some lunch and discovered that it was snowing in my part of the state. It NEVER snows in my part of the state! Anyway, when I went back to class I talked to the instructor, we both got another laugh out of me, and then I settled in for the correct class. I was there all of about 30 minutes getting instruction and then I went fabric shopping. I guess all clubs start with the same quilt? Abbygale? (I’ve since learned from Jo Morton that the instructions are sent to the shops in alphabetical order so most shops just keep them in that order when they give the classes.) I decided that I wanted to use the opportunity of taking these classes to get myself out of my comfort zone with fabric colors so I’m using Crimson Bouquet and Toasty (that I bought at the Quilt Fair) for my quilt. I think I’m really going to like this group. It’s a different feel from the other classes I took last year.

Mister and I went to the Arizona Matsuri Saturday. It was for his Asian Studies course he’s taking for a cultural studies requirement to graduate. It was so nice. I could have stayed and listened to the Taiko drummers all day. We ate there, and I will admit I was nervous about doing so. I have become an almost OCD hand washer/sanitizer, and I don’t like eating with something a stranger has touched, since being sick. Anyway, we also went to the Bonsai exhibit. Mister has said many a time that he wanted to try it, but I think now we’re ready. We brought back several beautiful Bonsai pottery pieces from Japan and have been using them for regular houseplants and various other decorative pieces, but now we’re going to start using them what they were created for. I’m excited. Another new hobby! 😀

After the festival we stopped by Road Runner Sports and I had myself fitted for a new pair of walking shoes. It’s expensive, but I’d rather pay it out in cash than have trouble with plantar fasciitis like I have in the past. I tried them out this morning for a short, brisk walk in our 39 degree weather. I’m planning on walking every weekday morning, then quilting for an hour afterward as a reward. We’ll see how that goes.

So, that’s where I’ve been! Hopefully this finds me back blogging again more regularly.

Comments Off on Back to our regularly scheduled program!

Posted in Abbygale's Scraps, Health, JMLW2013, Quilting

Minutiae

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Terri | 10 comments

Don’t you hate it when you go to bed and your brain won’t shut off!?!?! Sometimes, hitting “publish” on my blog has the same effect. This post could probably be a result of both of those events.

While the title of this post is “Minutiae” the post is very long and tedious to probably everyone but me 😉

Goals

I’ve been trying to figure out a “theme” for myself this year. For some reason in my mind I think if I have a theme it would be easier for me to stick to some goals I want to meet or improve on what I’m already doing. The word “control” keeps popping in my mind. I need to better control my weight-loss. I need to better control my finances. I need to better control my housekeeping. I need to better control my hobby stash. Okay, maybe my theme should be “better” since that keeps preceding “control.”

Health

I never discuss my weight-loss efforts here. I don’t know why. I know there are other people out there trying to fight the battle of the bulge. I use the online Weight Watchers plan so I can use the eTools. I do not attend meetings since you have to pay for each one and there are no monthly passes here which automatically give you access to eTools.

My hobbies are very sedentary and I know they don’t help but I refuse to give them up. I’m going ~~to try~~ to focus more on my weight-loss efforts in 2013. I weighed less for my first 2013 weigh-in than I did for my first 2012 weigh-in but I’m not happy with that. My 2 large hurdles are activity and Mister.

Right now it’s too cold to me to walk in the mornings and when the warmer afternoons get here I get too lazy because I’m enjoying snuggling with the puppies and a cup of tea while stitching. Then the evening arrives and the cold comes back. I do not have clothing (bottoms) to walk in cold. I’ve been searching for sweatpants but am surprised at how hard it is to find any right now! 😆

Mister and I have one day over the weekend where we eat out. In the past it was usually Friday since her didn’t have class and we’d go to the movies and out to eat. Last year on that day I’d ask first thing in the morning where we would be eating so I could plan my points for the day. It became quite evident very early on that the answer from him would be very unreliable as he’d quite frequently change his mind and it would be somewhere that was very hard for me to track points on. I gave in and gave up too easily. I don’t think he’s doing it intentionally because I know he’s concerned about potential health problems from my weight so this year I plan on being more assertive and in control. Of course right now he has class 5 days a week 😉

Money

I know. It’s not polite to talk about money. Nothing too lower-class here, though.

Once I stopped working and started getting an “allowance” I quit balancing my checkbook. I am trying to get back into writing checks for two reasons. First, it helps retailers (who still accept them) save money since they don’t have to pay a fee if I write a check. I used to offer to use my debit card but these days so many banks charge fees for debit purchases too. Second, I balance my checkbook religiously when I write checks and I keep a better handle on how I’m spending my money.

I got into a really bad habit this past year of charging things on my credit card and then transferring to cover. There’s no need for me to be doing this when I don’t get any type of reward for charging on my CC. I’m also going to increase the amount I’m putting on that CC and get it gone!

I’m also going to start putting some of my “allowance” into savings for “stitchy travel.”

It’s been a bit of a blow to my psyche to become “dependent” on Mister’s retirement pay. I think doing the above things will help me feel a little more independent and in control.

Homekeeping

I can remember in the not so distant past that every time someone would ask me what I wanted to be when I grow up I would answer a stay-at-home-wife. I did get to be that for a very short time while we were stationed in Okinawa and I loved it. Such a shocker since I was raised to be an independent woman (by my father). This past year has been such a learning experience for me and I can’t wait to see what I learn in 2013.

One thing that I absolutely swear by is FlyLady. I don’t follow her routines or zones exactly the same as she publishes but I have taken what she’s given me and modified it to work in my home, which is what I believe she wants all of us to do.

Our new home — I guess I should stop calling it that now that I’ve lived here for a year — Our home is twice the size of any house I have ever lived in. I knew immediately that I would have to change my housekeeping ways if I was to stay on top of utter CHAOS (can’t have anyone over syndrome) in such a huge place. My home is not perfectly clean or perfectly decorated but I am not ashamed to invite anyone into it nor do I freak out if my doorbell rings.

When I lived in California my house was small enough that I could follow FlyLady’s zones fairly closely as to how they’re published. This gave me the anchor I needed and the time I needed to learn the mindset. In this house I’ve changed it. I have a different “zone” every day, instead of changing zones each week. Every Monday – Friday I do my daily routines and I “do” one room of my house. Saturday and Sunday I do my daily routines but I don’t “do” a zone, and I rarely do laundry on Sunday.

For example: Monday – Friday I do my daily routines (make my bed; shower and dress; swish and swipe master bath; take dirty clothes downstairs; start laundry; swish and swipe downstairs powder room (next to laundry room); eat breakfast while watching the news). It takes me less than 20 minutes to make my bed, swish and swipe both bathrooms, carry the laundry down and start it, and make my breakfast and start unloading the dishwasher — I usually have oatmeal for breakfast so while that’s nuking I’m unloading the dishwasher. It all sounds and looks like a lot when I write it and read it back but I’ve been doing it so long now that I don’t even think about it anymore. If I’m going out of the house it’ll take me longer since I’ll be doing more than slapping on some moisturizer.

Then I spend approximately 30-60 minutes each morning on my zone; rebooting the laundry; plan/start prep for our evening meal; and, spend 2 15-minute sessions decluttering. These days the decluttering is strictly in my stitching room. The length of time in a room depends on that room. If it’s my living room then I dust my furniture and shutters and vacuum. This might take me 30 minutes if the dogs are in there helping by bringing me toys. Same goes for my dining room. If it’s my kitchen it can take me an hour since I have to also damp mop the floor, wipe out some of the shelves in the refrigerator, etc. while I’m purging leftovers. Plus, it’s a much larger room than my dining room or my living room. It only takes me more than an hour if I don’t stick to my routines. This is how I get so much stitching done. I feel guilty if I sit down to stitch and I haven’t done anything in my house.

Where I can improve is starting myself a control journal as suggested on FlyLady’s site. She publishes missions (chores) to do in each zone and I think I’m going to start printing them out and putting them in a control journal so when I get to that room in my house I can do them. There are some things she talks about doing that slips my mind (like dusting the ceiling fans and baseboards). The nice thing about these missions is they never take very long to do and make a huge difference.

By this time are you (if anyone is reading this) thinking I’m anal or OCD? I’m not, but I do have ADD and this helps me from being overwhelmed. If you’re not familiar with ADD, sometimes tasks get so overwhelming that we don’t know where to start, so we don’t start, then the task gets even more overwhelming and it’s a vicious circle that will cause a melt-down. When I start on a room I start at the left and work clockwise around a room. Every single time!

Hobby Stash

We sold a commercial grade ladder on a local Facebook group on Saturday. It was like winning the lottery! Our first piece of “clutter” gone in 2013. Mister has started gathering the bike parts he no longer needs/wants to sell on eBay. I have been decluttering my own hobby stash for over a year, but haven’t put any of it up for sale. That’s about to change.

I have been stitching for 35 years and rarely got rid of any of the designs that I’ve already stitched. I currently have 3 copy-paper boxes full of patterns, kits, etc., stuff to sell. I’ll be listing it on my blog first, then on a couple of Facebook groups (and my own page), then I’ll go the eBay route. I did think of opening an Etsy shop so I’ll have to look into fees, etc., for that. I have blogged this before, but I also have very few of my stitched pieces hanging on my walls. I’m going to first use whatever funds we generate to finish buying the framing supplies I need and get a lot of those pieces framed.

Getting rid of excess stash and having my beautiful crafts on display will help me control the clutter in my stitching room and not be so overwhelmed by how much stuff I have that I don’t use.

Blogging

This last bit is hard. I want to blog more and share more photos of what I’ve been doing. My computer is upstairs in my stitching room. My stitching is done downstairs, but all my other “crafting” is done upstairs in my stitching room. I’m trying to figure out a way to get myself in front of the computer more. I actually miss blogging!

10 Comments

Posted in Domestic, Goals, Life, Stash, Weight

2012 Year End Review

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Terri | 3 comments

My 2012 Goals were:

■Get back to blogging more frequently. I think I did blog more frequently, but still feel guilty that I didn’t blog more than I did.

■Get back to rotating my stitching and tracking my time. I started out really strong on my rotation then lost my watch 🙁 I did continue to track my time, but more in the number of days it took me to stitch something than the actual length of time.

■Stick to my WIPocalypse goals and keep my page updated. Not 100% success.

■Post to the Theme-a-licious challenge as often as my rotation works into it. I was doing rather well in this, too, until I hit a “snag” then just couldn’t get myself back in it.

■Post my monthly TUSAL. I don’t think I ever did this. It was laziness on my part because I certainly kept up with it at home!

■Participate in at least 6 3 Fair and Square exchanges. (changed 1/8/12) 1 finished 2/12 I had every intention in participating in the 3 exchanges. Once I finished the first one I never saw notification of any others. I’ve since figured out what I did wrong so I can see when the new exchanges come up.

■Finish out all 6 3 received Fair and Square exchanges. My received item is sitting on my finishing table waiting on me to finish it. I’ve already decided what I want to do, I’m just having trouble finding a suitable finishing item for it.

■Stitch a Santa ornament for my Santa display. I stitched 3 Prairie Schooler Santas for my display…but they never got ornamentified 🙁

■Take at least 1 stitching related class. Oh, joy, oh, yes! I attended the Attic’s Summer Soiree and had a blast! The projects we received in class are at the very top of my finish list for 2013.

■Finish logging my charts into my spreadsheet. I am 90% finished with this!!!!

■Start organizing my freebies. Didn’t get to them or the magazines since I didn’t finish with the charts.

■Organize my magazine designs.

The first half of 2012 found Mister and I holding our breath and living a wait and see life. His retirement on February 1 scared us both a little. It was such a huge change for us going first from two incomes, down to his, then down to 75% of his. I was so thankful that I remembered how frugal I had to be when we first married. Of course back then there was no internet to peruse to find hints and secrets of how everyone else was doing it 😉 It took awhile for his disability pay to kick in, but once that happened we both felt the relief those funds could bring.

I traveled in January to Las Vegas and had a blast with Melissa, Annette and Annette’s mother, Pat. There was a lot of stitching, and laughing, and a good bit of gambling that occurred and I actually came home richer than I arrived.

I enjoyed as many open stitching nights as I could at Attic Needlework. There were several Bag Ladies stitchins, and I loved, loved, loved the Sampler Sundays I attended. I feel so blessed to be living near Attic, getting to know so many designers that live nearby, and stitching with some wonderful women.

I found a really nice quilt shop and started the first of 3 quilt classes in January. I still haven’t finished the two quilts (one needs binding, one needs quilting and binding) but I did manage to finish what I think is a beautiful quilted bag that I tote all over the place with my stitching.

I read more books than I can remember and feel bad that I didn’t keep track of just how much I read.

And stitching! Lordy, did I stitch this year! I have been having so much fun with it! I had 11 stitching pieces on my WIPacolypse list. I finished 3. I also started 7 more, and finished 5 of those. Not bad 😉

Petite Mexican Sampler – The Samplar Workes – finished
Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler – (started 9/99) stitched on for 10 hours
Harmony – Serendipity Designs – started 11/23/97 — this had about 10 stitches in it. I took it with me to Vegas and unstitched it, then gridded the bottom of the fabric. Fortunately, I measured before I started stitching again and discovered there would have only been a one inch margin all the way around my fabric. I have put it aside, and taken it off my WIP/UFO list for now since there’s nothing but a gridded piece of fabric.
Haiku – Dimples Designs – started January 2004 – finished
Fairy Moon – Mirabilia – started October 27, 2004 – this saw a lot of stitching. I am almost finished with the stitching and will keep her in my 2013 rotation until she’s finished.
QS Letting Go – HAED – November 19, 2005
Red Desert Scissor Pocket – The Cat’s Whiskers – started October 11, 2006 – needs finishing out
Quaker Needlework Treasures – With My Needle – originally started October 2006; picked back up January 11, 2010
Le Marquoir de Justine – started January 4, 2007
Hannah Beeby – finished 4/15/12
Houses of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings – started January 18, 2010
New Start – Rose Quaker Sampler – Wiehenburg – (Started 4/25/12 stitchalong on Wednesdays)
New Start — Hannah Gilpin 1800 – Needleprint
Mary Wigham – Needleprint – New Start 4/26/12 – finished 9/1/12 I fell so in love with this piece I couldn’t put it down!
Americana – Carriage House Samplings – New Start finished 6/9/12
America – Little House Needleworks – New Start finished 6/17/12
Betsy – Sheepish Designs – New Start finished 6/25/12
America – Blackbird Designs – New Start finished 7/8/12

I also conquered my fear of finishing ornaments!

I got a new car! I got to travel to California and see Son and Melissa. Son and Girlfriend came here for Christmas. My parents came here for New Year (haven’t visited me in over 12 years).

All in all I feel I had a really good year. Mister and I stayed healthy. Harley Quinn had a rough year-end, but it looks like she’s completely healed and we’re very thankful to be starting 2013 with her and Jasper healthy.

Mister starts back to school on Monday. I’m looking forward to the routine it helps keep me in and the uninterrupted stitching time it gives me.

Last but not least, I managed to finally start And They Sinned yesterday. I have a 25% off everything coupon for Jo-Ann so I’ll be buying DMC for Berlin Woolwork Sampler and starting on that on the 15th.