Old stuff

Hi folks.  December.  I hope January and February go by as quickly as October and November have.  Are you ready for Christmas? 

 

   I peeked outside to see if the grapevine tree was lit and caught a glimpse of something that wasn't there before.  So I backed up and took a closer look.  Could it be that little devil that always gives me a hard time?  Yep.  That's my Nitzy.

 

 

 

 

My brother was going through some old items in his basement and found this American Needlework slipcase of patterns.  It has enormous foldouts of various types of needlework.  I found one for cross stitch and it has a few repro samplers, but the companion book is not included. 

 

I like them but they are too detailed for my waning desire to stitch, and without the book for instructions and details there isn't much I can do anyway. 

 Embroidery, quilting, hooking, lots of really nice super large patterns.  The book can be found somewhere online I'm sure, but I don't want to be bothered, will send it to Goodwill.  A little mildew odor from being stored in the basement too, so they may not take it.
 He also found Kennington embroidered and quilted western shirts with pearl snaps from the 70's!  I think we'll try Ebay for those.

 

 

My procrastination has cost me the sale price on a range I wanted.  Couldn't make up my mind, and I see these "sale" prices all the time and really thought it wouldn't change.  It did.  By a lot.  The burners still work once in a while, but the oven keeps shutting off so we'll manage until we decide on repair cost or replacement.

 

If it wasn't so cold out we could finish the leaves and pick up the branches in the yard from the high winds the other day.  I don't see any warmer temps coming in the forecast.  Being a crabass will never change, but I can be a happy crabass, or a crabby crabass.  Five months to happy.

 

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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At this rate,

Santa won't be stitched until January.  Just leave it alone and follow the design!  At least I have the linen chosen, but must make a decision on this guy today.  The way I feel right now, it's Santa #1 with head #2.  Or Santa #3.  Santa #2.

 

 

Nothing happened at the meeting yesterday, because there was none.  It is now 12/7 but she did let him know that she is doing everything she can to get the sensor to him.  It has been on backorder for almost a month.  A life saving medical device item is backordered?  I'm taking to their Facebook page today since they haven't answered through messenger.  Very good company and has been great for 30 years.

 

Started decorating and then stopped.  Really not into it anymore.  Maybe because these procrastinated projects have kept the house on hold, a mess, in limbo, and I'm stuck in my own mud.  Eight trees from medium to very small, lights on a few, and sprigs of greenery around.  Outside, I have large baskets on the doors (thank you magnets!) with fresh greens.  We did move that very large cupboard we built into another room which created a rearranging nightmare.  Once I removed the contents for moving, I then started changing everything.  One thing I did do that will help the kitchen, was to buy those small square bins for the top shelf.  I loaded them with boxed and bagged items and now I can just slip a finger into the bottom of the bin to pull it down.  No more searching and stretching for the back of the shelf.  Fit perfectly.

 

 

One of Carole's Christmas parties is today and the Guardian Bells came in yesterday.  She's excited to give them to her friends that need nothing.  Hard to buy for those that have it all isn't it?  I bought a few more also.

 

I hope to have the Christmas giveaway soon but honestly, haven't come up with anything just yet. 

 

My warm days are now gone and baby it's cold outside.

 

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Is it possible?

After I posted the bells mystery, Carole and I were talking on the phone when we both went silent at the same time.  Oh my God, she said, you gave us Guardian Bells at Thanksgiving.  I responded that the same thought crossed my mind at the same time.  We aren't believers in charms and such, but what a coincidence.  I sent Carole home with a praying angel bell, and Chris with the fireman bell for his car. I found them on Pinterest, they are pewter, made in the USA, and come in a little sack.  So nice hanging on a doorknob, keychain, car mirror, mine is on a long neck chain.  They are supposed to be a gift in order to "work",  but can't we count gifts to ourselves?
Google Guardian Bells and you will find the original site and others that carry various designs.  They are also called ride bells and are hung on motorcycles. Rude Dog Leather (a biker shop) has them grouped by theme and offers a nice selection in each group with free shipping on the $10.95 bells.
http://www.rudedogleather.com/guardian_bells/guardian_bells.html

They've been around for a long time but are new to me, thought you may be interested if you've not seen them either. Only 1 1/2", great for that hard to find exchange gift with the few dollar limit, and so many design options. 

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Every time a bell rings....

Last night, after responding with the other volunteer firemen to a fatal accident, Chris was exhausted and upset.  His glucose was 390 at 9:30, and he decided to not add any insulin through his pump since he was going to sleep and that's when his glucose level drops drastically.  He told his girlfriend on a phone call that his number had risen to 580 by 10:30.  He goes to sleep, thinking with that high of a number, he will certainly be safe until morning.

At 3:00 AM, my sister is awakened by bells ringing.  Soft ringing bells. So she checks her alarm and it is not going off, nor is it set.  They continue.  She gets out of bed and walks into the kitchen, no clue where the soft bells are.  Checks the television, the cell phone, the answering machine, and then decides to wake Chris (upstairs) to see if he is maybe playing a game on the phone or watching a movie.  So she calls.  And calls.  And calls.  At 3 AM she hesitated to call Mark and tried to climb the stairs herself, all the while, terrified of what she would find.

Many diabetics get pretty nasty and almost violent when they are in this semi conscious state, their brain and body is not working properly without the glucose.  When Mark went again two days ago, it was the second time he was catatonic, this time his muscles were rigid, fingers curled, mouth clenched.  Mark had to lift him and get him upright to administer the gel and it took quite a while for him to awaken.  He was headed for that state again, the third time in 8 days, when Carole reached him.  He is very strong and she was concerned for her safety but finally got him to slowly drink a quart of orange juice.  If she had not awakened him, he would never have survived several hours till morning.  The pump is obviously infusing too much.

I am going with him Thursday to meet with the pump people, the girl that makes adjustments to his insulin pump, and the (hopefully) doctor.  This is so ridiculous.  It is either malfunctioning or they have an inept aide making decisions she should not be in charge of.  I will be nice.  I will be open to explanations.  And if they aren't accommodating, I will be like a Full Metal Meno in their gut.

My question is....... where are those bells and who was ringing them?

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My bad

Geez.  This design is adorable so why am I messing with it?  I'm tired of using the overdyed reds which have been the majority of recent stitches.  Why not a green suit?  Maybe striped pants?  Green pants and hat?  In order to try this, I needed more leg room.  So I raised the pockets and jacket, but also enlarged his boots and took a few pounds off.  To have a different colored hat, I had to break it off from the jacket, but then added more forehead.  And a taller hat.  See what I mean?  My manipulation of the box labels has turned into a bad habit.  Not sure if I will stick with the original, all one color, or try to make him quirky.  How silly am I to mess with a design from Teresa Kogut???  So ashamed.  No chocolate for me!

 

 

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A handsome fellow

 

I love a nice beard.  Such a difference in this fellow, very glad I removed the 613.  The 644 didn't have enough contrast either so I finished using 822.  Because 3864 is more subdued than other pinks I've used for the face, it blends more with neutrals and I think a lighter beard will be necessary.  That's OK.  I prefer that, even on the more primitive Santas.  I also removed the white I added around the eyes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 One more design from Teresa Kogut and that may be the next start.  Did you know that Teresa is having a sale on her Etsy site?  Use this code for 20% off this Friday (BLKFRI2016), and 30% off Cyber Monday(CYBRMON2016).

https://www.etsy.com/shop/teresakogut

 

 

After the oven failure, the stovetop also died.  So now we have no choice but to look for a new one.  We will check with our (wonderful) appliance repairman but with these digital panels, there is usually no repair possible, just replacement which is a huge amount.  But the dinner was wonderful.  This was the best turkey we ever had.  Fresh Honeysuckle White, no hormones, no antibiotics, only 3% solution added.  We kept hearing from others that they always cook and carve the turkey the day before.  I couldn't imagine it being moist and tender reheated, but because of the commotion with the range we took a chance.  Wow.  How nice to not have to make that mess with the carcass while trying to prepare the rest of the meal, especially when your kitchen is small.  So we let the bird cool completely, then carved, layered it in a long casserole with College Inn's turkey broth.  Added a little more broth before slowly reheating tightly covered.  It was very moist, tender, delicious.  I guess the broth kept it juicy and I was totally surprised at how good it was.  I think carving after it cooled (over 2 hours)  made a big difference also as the meat held its juice.

 

While my brother was here, we tried to corral Nitzy for a worm pill.  My brother is excellent with cats and with pill popper in hand, he slowly approached while I held Nit down on the chair.  Before I knew it, I heard a table shaking, glasses rattling, and a cat flew over my shoulder.  Better luck next time.  But the little monkey was happy with a shipping box.

 

 

Sneaked out after to hit a few sales.  Macy's wasn't bad at all, JCPenney was pretty crowded, Kohls was packed, and Sears was empty.  Just bought the few items we went for, didn't browse. 

 

Hope your Thanksgiving was special. We did a lot of reminiscing and also talked about our cardiologist whose funeral was yesterday.  I told you a few months ago how shocked we all were to hear about his devastating diagnosis.  He did not last very long, age 59, and doctor to all three of us. Born in Spain, an only child, so kind and gentle, three daughters left behind, and an entire community's loss.  We never know what tomorrow will bring, and end.

 

Thank you for all the comments about my prior post.  Just in case you are wondering, the pumpkin pie kicked in as I moved up to #137 in the checkout line.  Thankfully, the disturbance was felt by me but heard by no one.  Also thankfully, the line moved very quickly.  I think the outdated pumpkin was fine, it may have been the evaporated milk.  I saw the bottom of the can in the recycle bin, decided to check it, it was 2011.  I must have emptied the new can down the drain instead of the old one found in the basement cabinets.  I found lots of things down there as I played with the gas stove. 

 

Enjoy your weekend.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

Note to Blogger - what the hell?  Who wants to see a page of old posts?  Get the dashboard back with our Reading List.

 

 

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