Tony passed away

Hmm.  a somber and icky start to this post but a truth nonetheless.  Tony died last night and the last 24 hours have been pretty hectic.  A lot of things are still up in the air and will be since Tony did not have a will.  $2300 to cremate him.  No mess no fuss no extras.  Jeesh!  Does that sound expensive to anyone else?  Of course we have to pay it.  What gets me is also the local newspapers charge to put in an obituary.  Oh well.....enough of this depressing subject.

Now we have to go through everything.  Wish us luck.

Merry Christmas!

Back home after having breakfast with mom and then a quick trip to the other local nursing home to give Tony aka Santa his stocking.  He laughed when he saw these little round circles in it.  They were really towels but you had to put water on them to reconstitute them.  He was like a kid with them..."Look....see how big they get".  LOL.

Mom was good.  She liked her stocking also.  I had put her wall hanging in it but now she says I need to do another one.  It was suppose to replace Mrs. Snow on the wall above her bed but she changed her mind.  She doesn't want Mrs. Snow taken down so she had me put it up above her pictures on the other wall.  BUT now that area is lopsided and I *have* to do another flower mini wall hanging to "even it up".  I think it's a conspiracy.  LOL.

She is also a die hard Chicago Cubs fan.  I found this little sock monkey which had the Chicago Cubs logo on it and had to put that in the stocking also.  It is now proudly taped up on her window so she can see it.

She has a new hat to wear to dinner today though.  It's got "bling" and she says she won't take it off today.  LOL.

I hope that I look as good as she does at the age of 92.  She was also happy to hear that she might get her "brace" off in three weeks. 

I hope everybody has a great day.  I am off to do some craft stuff.  Still have a block to do as a test quilter.  Hopefully it won't give me as many problems as the first one.  Too many projects too little time.

HUGS to all

December 24, 2011 - Christmas Eve

Tony is now out of the hospital and back in the Nursing Home/Rehab facility.  That is good news.  Hopefully his mood will get better also.  LOL.

So I have now been nursing the swollen face/allergic reaction for 2 days now and I think I am finally feeling a little better.  I'm still swollen but not as bad.  The benedryl and zrytec combo must now be taking affect.  I am making progress on some stuff.  I have my quilt as you go project will be finished tomorrow.  I am hand sewing the binding (wrap around).  My machine doesn't like this size and it was a struggle to sew some of it.  Still though it is a new technique I learned and I don't think it looks too bad.

Well time for bed.  I have to make biscuits and gravy for mom for breakfast and take it to her.  I'm sure she will want me to stay longer and visit.  Perhaps we will do some cards for her.  I'll try to remember to get a picture of her mini wall hanging that I am giving her.  Hopefully I will get a couple of pictures.  In her Xmas stocking is a red santa hat that has a tiara on it.  Thought that she might get a kick out of that.

I'll finish watching Scrooge and then drift off to sleep to the sounds of harps. 

Until tomorrow everyone.

HUGS

December 23? Where did this month go?

I can't believe it is 30degrees outside (F) and it is December 23.  I also can't believe that I woke up two days ago with a swollen face.  Evidently I have my allergy attack again.  The last time it was this bad was in June 2010.  That time it took about 4 months to get rid of the swelling.  It would come and go periodically during that 2 months.  I'm hoping that it won't take that long this time. 


I finished mom's Xmas gift.  It's in her Christmas stocking but I will take a picture of it when she opens it up.  I think it turned out pretty good.  I had a problem figuring out what to put in Tony's sock this year.  I'm not sure if he'll be at nursing home or in the hospital.  He took a slight turn for the worse (or his kidneys did) and he had his first dialysis treatment.  They weren't going to send him back to rehab until they found out how he reacts to it  He will get his stocking though...I just have to wait to see if I'll be taking it to the hospital or nursing home.

With my allergies acting up I find myself trying to get more sleep.  I suppose that is to be expected with taking on a daily basis 1 zyrtec and 2 benedryl every four hours.  It DOES cut into my quilting time though.

Well time for another dose of benedryl.  I'll write more over the weekend.

Sunday December 18, 2011

Saw the family today.  Kerm and I had breakfast with Mother today.  She was good and ate all her biscuits and gravy and even finished before Kerm and I did.  Of course w try to slow down and make it a little game out of it.  She really was chatty.  After seeing mom I went to see Tony.  HE was really grouchy.  I arrived when the nurses and doctor was there to take blood, check his blood sugar level etc.  Found out a little more about his progress.  He will get better just a long way down the road.  I'm not sure if he'll ever be able to go back on his own but I hope so.  Even if he goes back home he might need a day nurse or something.  On Tuesday the Notary Public at the hospital will return from days off and we hope to get me assigned (legally) as Tony's Power of Attorney - Financial.  Kerm is already his medical Power of Attorney. 

Making progress on Mom's Christmas present.  Her little wall hanging is almost done.  Last night I did all the embroidery on it.  I just finished quilting it and now am int he process of putting on the binding.  She doesn't like borders on the little ones so this will work out ok for her.  I think it will be a nice little wall hanging.  I'll take finished picture of it probably some time tonight and post tomorrow.  Tomorrow I can put on the hanging sleeve.  The label will just be written on the back with pigma pen.  It's our compromise.  She likes labels on the front and I hate that.  So I will just right on it and that will suffice.

My Peppermint Candy coffee is ready and waiting so I'll post later.

Until next time...

Happy Holidays.

It's started!

Hi everybody.  I finally started mom's Xmas present.  I decided to fall back on my old standby.....outline stitching.  Most of you might know it by Redwork but because I'm not doing it in Red I am going to call this outline stitching. She wanted to have some spring flowers for her wall.  It will be a mini wall hanging since she only has space for something around 12-15".  Here is what it is looking like so far.

I am using variegated thread for the flowers and leaves so it will give it a little change.  She loves pink so it will be the pink variegated for all the flowers.  Will have to see what I have in my stash for the borders.  Have 8 days to get it done in so think I'm making nice progress.

Back to stitching.

December 16, 2011

Wow, it is the 16th of December already and I don't have mom's Xmas present done.  Actually I don't even have it started on.  I need to make it simple so I can speedily do it.  That won't be too bad.  I think I might have found my pattern.  If all things go well I will mark it out tomorrow and perhaps get started on sewing it.

I won't see Tony tomorrow but will on Sunday after seeing mom.  I will have to spend extra time with mom since she was crying today.  They are going to increase her pain meds when she is in her brace and that might help.  It's hard on her but I will see her Sunday and I am sure she will like that.

I also saw Tony tonight.  They have moved him out of ICU!  YAY!  He actually looks worse now.  Hmmm.  that part wasn't in the plan.  He probably was just tired.  I have written out most of his Christmas cards and put the money he wanted in them.  I have delivered the families to them and now need to give one or two to friends that are in the area.  Might get that done this weekend and if not will do so by Tuesday.

Today was also my last day at work until January 3, 2012.  I do have to stop in the office and and pick up a couple of things that I left.  I might be seeing Connie on Tuesday for lunch and if so I think it could wait until then. Tomorrow I think I will just sleep in before getting ready to go to Tony's apartment and check his mail.  If it isn't one thing it's another.  I will get some quilting done over this break...Just not sure what.  Guess you and I will see won't we.  :)

HUGS to all; Happy holiday to all.

Sunday Sewing - December 11, 2011

Today hasn't been too bad of a day.  I managed to finish up mom's birthday present - Mrs. Snow - and gave it to her.  She liked it and it's hanging in the place of honor - above her bed.  :)  I had remembered to get her a card from Tony also so she liked that.  We told her that he was in the hospital because of pneumonia.  She accepted that.

I did manage to take a picture of her.  My brother Kerm just grunted when I said he had to have one also.  I figure that at 92 we need to take as many pictures of special occasions like birthdays whenever we can.  

This is Mom and me.

This is Mom and Kerm.

If you look closely you'll see Mrs. Snow hanging up above her bed (or see part off her anyway).  You can't tell it so much but she still has her turtle brace on.  They have put it underneath her clothes so it is harder for her to try and take off.  LOL.  Hopefully she'll have it off in another month or so.

After I got home I looked for something to work on and ran across some of her crocheted dish clothes and pot holders.  I had forgotten she had done those.

Ignore the number 4 in the middle of it.  I found enough that I'm giving them way on my facebook quilting group.  At one time I had over 100 of these in my small apartment.  I have one set "set aside" but don't need all the others.  I have stuff from her so I can be generous with her other stuff.

I did get to see Tony in the ICU today.  He is doing better.  We had a conversation today.  They took out enough tubes that he can talk.  He'll still be in ICU for a bit. His kidneys are getting better but still not good.  That's ok.  I'll take all the improvements that I can.

When it Rains it Pours

Just in the middle of getting into the spirit of things for the holidays my brother Tony got sick.  I mean really sick.  I've spent the last couple of weekends with him in hospitals or nursing rehab trying to make sure that he is getting fit for bypass surgery.

Wednesday he went to the doctors for his pre surgical consultation and wouldn't you know it?  it's been postponed again.  It was suppose to have been on Thursday and they postponed it until Monday.  Ok.  That wasn't too bad. He came back from the visit and was tired.  Not unusual since he hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and it was around 5 p.m.  Not good for a diabetic.  I think he must have had something because his blood sugar levels were ok (actually they were better than normal) but either way he was kind of out of it.  Later that night the nursing home rehab center (referred to as nursing home from now on) sent him to our local hospital because of change of mental state and blood in urine.  His mental state was he was getting incoherent.

Now this is where the timeline gets a little fuzzy.  Somewhere around 8 p.m. Kerm (other brother) called me to say tony was in hospital.  I went there.  We left around 10 when they were admitting him into a room since they had sedated him so he would breath easier (his body wouldn't be fighting against the oxygen they were giving him).  The I got a phone call at midnight that said Tony had had a heart attack and they had him in ICU.  Back to the hospital where I stayed with Kerm until almost 4 a..m. During all the testing he was found to have had a heart attack, his kidneys aren't functioning 100% efficiency (not total news since his meds had that as a side affect and he gets it tested regularly), and that he might have pneumonia.  They were going to have to keep him sedated and run more tests.  Today (umm.  guess same day but this afternoon) they found out that he has a bag (a BAG?!) of fluid on the outside of his lungs which have been putting pressure on the lungs.  They aren't sure if this is why the tests red that he had pneumonia or not...more tests.

He's survived the 24 hours which are the most critical but still in ICU.  24 hours down, 48 to make it through.  It will be a long haul yet.  After this he'll have to start back at zero for rehab and once again work up strength to have bypass surgery.  IF he makes it that far that is.

Oh well that is why I haven't posted much or done much in quilting. I AM working on Ms. snow for my mothers 92nd birthday  (on the 10th) in her favorite colors.  They could have had more contrast but this IS mother.  Her favorite flower material is the vest.  Iit has been good because it gives me something to do while waiting for news.  The vest is a little more even.  This picture was taken before it was fused on.  It is about a 12.5" block.  That is the size that works out best for moms wall hangings above her bed.  I will put a narrow border on it.  I might put on a white border and back since mom likes white and it will tie in with Mrs. Snow.

I will also start to do some counted cross stitching again....and ummm..... my retail therapy of $50 worth of material for a project.  hehehe