Running With Scissors

Pity Party of One

Remember my pity party last week about not going to Hawaii because my kid had an appendectomy -- it was a good decision, for more reasons than one sick boy.

Reason number one: I would not have had a good time if I had to worry about my kid -- I had to see him with my own eyes.

Reason number two: Charlie's mom went in for knee replacement surgery and wound up in ICU -- because we weren't in Hawaii, he drove up to Sacramento to spend some time with her.

Reason number three: My dad had a massive eye infection. So bad that he was completely blind in that eye and they had to go in and surgically clean it up. Glad I was home to lend a hand with him and my mom.

So I guess things work out for a reason.

I handed my parents off to my superbly qualified sister on Tuesday and am now spending the week up in Sacramento with my mother-in-law who is making a fabulous recovery from her knee surgery. She would be a perfect patient if she wouldn't snarl at me when I remind her (oh so gently) to do her exercises.

My Dad is doing very well under Susie (and his doctor's) care -- hopefully he will make a full recovery.

Casey is back to all his activities and has even finished up all his make-up work. He just has three tiny scars to show for all that pain and agony.

I found some quilt photos on my camera -- totally forgot about them! So I'll post those babies tomorrow.
 

Funny, This Doesn't Look Like Hawaii

Right now I'm supposed to be here, blissed out on a beach in Kauai. 

Or hanging by the pool with my friends.

Instead, I'm at home watching some guys cut down my beautiful, yet termite-ridden, birch tree. At home.

It could be worse. I could be back where I spent the weekend, up in San Luis Obispo with this view.

Casey, minus his appendix but on enough pain killers to ask me to take his photo.

I was all packed (a whole day early too!) when Casey called to say he was in the emergency room and had appendicitis and they were going to perform an appendectomy. Charlie came home from work and calmly packed a bag and made hotel reservations in SLO.  In the meantime I had changed my clothes three times and packed an overnight bag with one t-shirt, one sweater, one pair of pajamas, one pair of socks and six pairs of underwear. Not that I was stressed out or anything.

We made it to SLO in good time, despite rush hour traffic in L.A., but not before Casey was out of surgery. His doctor called when it was over and said everything went well and we made it to the hospital in time to see him wheeled out of recovery. He stayed in the hospital overnight and was released the next day. We stayed in town a few days to keep an eye on the kid and left him with a well-stocked and clean kitchen.

He's already up and around and out and about and will be back in class on Thursday.

So we had to miss our vacation. Luckily, Kauai will be there next year.

Charlie is using his time off to go up to Sacramento to visit his mom who recently had knee surgery. I'm spending this week watching other people work on my house. Do what you do best, I always say. Today the tree, tomorrow the suspicious plumbing leak. Let the good times roll.

Flashback Friday: Halloweenie

My family calls me Weenie. Colleenie weenie. I know, we are a wildly creative bunch, as you can see with my costume here. I particularly like the paper bag around my neck.  I'm not sure there was anything more to my costume than the mask, but it doesn't really matter because when you trick or treat in Minnesota you cover it up anyway with a coat.

 

Here's one a few years later in Dallas.  I, of course, am the beautiful princess and Susie is Casper the Ghost.  I like that my mask has a mask on and lucking I'm  not wearing my paper bag this time.

I Bet This Doesn't Happen to Martha Stewart

You know, when the college boy lived at home, odd little situations didn't surprise me:  the "treasure maps" drawn on the walls (in Sharpie!); finding Matchbox cars in the dishwasher, the dryer, and the toilet; the cat locked in the bathroom cabinet ("so I can find her later"); and the frame of our couch snapped by three offensive linemen "just sitting down" -- that's life with boys.

But I need someone to explain to me how these red spots appeared on the cabinets and ceiling.  Cooking, you say? I understand cooking mishaps, believe me, I understand. I've had a few unfortunate incidents with the blender too. But this is just above my refrigerator -- no cooking going on there. I'm not sure what the spots even are -- ketchup? Salsa? Blood!?!

Charlie denies any knowledge and Chance isn't talking, so I guess the mystery will remain a mystery. Excuse me while I go find a step stool.

It's True

I'm easily amused.

Saw a funny t-shirt on another blog (of course now I can't find it to give proper credit, but thanks!) and followed the link here and did all of my Christmas shopping. 

Okay. I didn't really -- but it would have made for an amusing Christmas morning. For me.

This is the one I need:

Fit For A Princess (or two)

All this quilting has put me behind on the knitting! We had two more babies born this summer among my multitude of cousins and I just finished hats for them. I made these little crown hats from this (Free!) pattern from Amazon:  Princess Hat . It's hard to tell in the photo, but the crown part has sparkly gold threads woven in.

Hopefully I will get them in the mail to Princess Lauren and Princess Ada this week.

Finished At Last: Casey's T-Shirt Quilt

I have got to find a better way to photograph quilts. At least there aren't any feet in this photo. Anyway -- Casey's t-shirt quilt is finished. Can I get an amen? T-shirts and jerseys from baseball, soccer, football, Scouts, junior guards and various and sundry activities for the last 15 years. Hockey teams from kindergarten through college!  If I had used everything I could have made a blanket big enough to cover my house. 

I wound up not using (5 years worth) of soccer jerseys, except one from his favorite team, the Mighty Sharks (they wanted to be the Bloody Sharks, but AYSO vetoed that!). I also left out most of his baseball jerseys, except the two Angels Majors ones. The club and college hockey jerseys were saved from the scissors too, for sentimental reasons.

This quilt was surprisingly easy -- once I figured out what I wanted it to look like.  My cousin Kim made a gorgeous quilt for her son last year that was very inspiring, but way beyond my skill level.  Her advice to buy a rotary cutter, mat and Omni-grid rulers helped immensely though and gave me the push to do this. My other go-to supplies were Pellon Stacy Fusible Interfacing and a variety of Moda Marbles fabrics.

 

I machine quilted it on my old (can I say vintage, since it's from the 40's?) Singer -- my lines are straighter than they look in this photo -- I swear!

Flashback Friday: Halloween Edition

In honor of Sister Sue visiting for the weekend I'm putting in her favorite Halloween photo. She likes it because I am an ugly old witch (with devilish red eyes!) and she is a beautiful princess.

I think her costume looks more like a drag queen. 

Notice the coats and gloves -- Minnesota, perhaps? Nope. This is in Dallas. Must have been a nippy fall y'all.

They're Here! They're Here!

It's that wonderful time of year -- Honeycrisp apple season! I am a big fan of these sweet, tart, super-crisp apples.  Run out to your grocery store and pick some up before the much-too-short season is over.

Hat Trick

Sister Susie asked me to try and copy a scrub hat she liked. (She has more faith in my sewing skills than I do.) I finally took the time to figure it out and realized it was a two-piece pattern with a little elastic -- right up my alley.

Don't you just love my model? He looks just like those guys on Grey's Anatomy. We'll call him McSnarky.

See the dancing skeletons? I thought that would be cute for Halloween.

The first one went so well I thought I'd try a couple more. This one will coordinate with all different colors of scrubs.  I have never been awake in an OR so I don't know if that matters.

And one more to honor her alma mater. It looks a little crooked but I had to hurry up because me model wanted to get back to the football game before he became McCrabby.