Fly away Jingle Bird!

Spread your wings and find a new home.  A quick giveaway to you my friends.  Yes another.  Unplanned, but I want to offer a little gift of gratitude for your support.  I stained the bird with walnut dye because he was a bit too clean-cut for me.  He measures 4 1/2" square without the fringe. 

  I will draw a name Saturday evening at 8pm EST. 

 

 

Carole is doing well except for the pain.  The surgery took longer because they had to replace a questionable lead from the first implantation before adding the new third lead, change the generator/transformer in the unit, and this all took place before the node ablation.  Somehow, they burned her chest with an instrument but she is not allowed to use any medication on it because it is too close to the incision.  No driving for 3 weeks and wearing a sling on the surgery side for the same length of time.

 

If you would like Jingle Bird, leave your name, initials if no-reply, on this post.

Thank you all again!

 

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I can breathe now

Thank you thank you thank you.  Your prayers lifted us both, gave us strength, and pulled us through.  Sudden death is rare but can occur within the first 48 hours so she will stay and be monitored but her surgeon is very pleased with the result.   Arrived at 11:30, emergencies developed with others, and she wasn't taken down to surgery until 5:30 pm.  It took much longer than expected and we got to see her afterward at 9 pm.  In a few weeks she should see a great difference.  This started a year ago when we rushed her to the hospital on Christmas Day. 
Everyone is treating her like a queen, remembering what she went through a few months ago.  I am still jittery and will take one more pill tonight to get a good sleep.  I've been on edge for months, anxious, fearful, feeling helpless.  I will still be for a short time until I feel comfortable that she is out of danger. I'm sure much of this is also related to menopause since I've been a hair trigger emotional crab for a long time.  In fact, I'm having a hot flash at this very moment.  And Kozy Shack rice pudding.  And Dove.  I may take a little break and try to unwind for a few days.
I can't thank you all enough for your support, prayers, good wishes, emails, comments, and tolerance for my moods.

But I will say again, thank you.
Sleep well.

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Panties bunching?

I am sitting here ready to take a pill to calm down and face this scary day.  We have to be there by 11:30 and the procedure won't start until 3:00.  I'm taking a few things to stitch but my thumb is cracked and painful, and my hands aren't steady.  We won't be in the same area as the last time until after the surgery and going back into that small unit will not be easy for her.

 

As for the stamp issue.  I don't give a rat's ass if they have a stamp for each religion.  When I go into a pharmacy and ask for eye drops for dryness, I don't want ones for allergy.  When I go into a yarn shop and ask for wool, I don't want to be sold cotton.  If I order a DVD, I don't want to be given a Blu-ray.  When I go into a coffee shop and order tea, I don't want coffee.  It's called a job, a responsibility.  They are being paid to serve the customer what they are paying for. I am not going to stand at a counter, search for a computer, Wi-Fi areas, and look up what I am purchasing.  Yes the buyer should check the merchandise, but I trusted the post office to know what stamps they have.  She isn't delivering mail, she is working the counter as she has done for many years as the manager of that branch.  The stamp was released last year!  I expect people to do the job they are paid to do. Yes it may look like a Christmas tree, but it's not.  I asked for a Christmas stamp.  Not Kwanzaa, not Hanukkah, not EID.  I have a right to celebrate my religion just as they have a right to celebrate theirs.  Tolerance goes both ways.  Preaching it without practicing it is ideology.  The title of that post was about someone not doing their job.  Period.  Don't send emails about being a racist, anti-Islam, anti-worker.  I have a right to say what bugs me and getting a stamp for a religion that doesn't celebrate Christmas when I specifically asked for the opposite, bugs me.

My former mail carrier was a gem, very friendly, very conscientious.  She is 6 years to retirement so they moved her to an easier and shorter route, and she stopped in to say goodbye last year.  My new one won't take my stamped mail from the mailbox.  The flag is up, the mail is ready, but she leaves it.  She has left my packages at homes several miles away with nothing similar in address or name.  I have to deliver my neighbor's mail that was left in my box.  There are workers that take their responsibility seriously and do an excellent job. There are workers that know they can't be fired and make no effort.  We have more of those in my area.

 

I hope to have a good report posted by tomorrow morning. 

 

 

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Another well paid employee

Hello people.  I am fuming and as usual, vent here.  I only had a few cards to mail and stopped at my post office to request 10 more Christmas stamps.  My carrier is paid $29.50 per hour plus $.50 per mile, per day, for her route.  I would assume the manager would be a higher rate.  I asked her for the Christmas stamps, she held up a green stamp with a tree on it.  I asked if she was sure and she said they are clueless as to the print (EID Greetings), but it is the Christmas tree stamp and the only one they have at that branch.  So onto my envelopes they go and into the bin.  I looked it up when I got home. It is shaped like, but not a Christmas tree - it's calligraphy with Islamic symbols. EID commemorates the two Islamic holidays, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.  It is a Muslim stamp for a Muslim holiday, they do not believe Christ is the Son of God, they do not recognize or celebrate Christmas, and my post office is selling them to me as a Christmas tree stamp.  I am furious.  All my cards to my Catholic and Christian family and friends have a Muslim stamp.  Should I have known this?  I'm not Muslim!  Why would I know?  More importantly, why didn't she?  Another government employee that serves the public well.

 

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Jingle Bird

I stitched this on 32 count because I wanted it smaller, changed a few colors.  No interfacing, backed with two layers of linen in different neutral shades to get a variegated and fuller fringe.  The backing linens are coarse 25 count - I didn't want a fine thread fringe.  After pressing it with the iron's tip to separate, I got the ragged look that I wanted.

 

Originally with little bells that I removed - thought it was too much.

I pinned the three layers together and fringed the top linen to the size I liked, then stitched with matching thread on a very small zigzag setting, catching the end thread to prevent further raveling.

 

The stitching is barely visible.  I didn't want to hand stitch a decorative seam with colored floss.  Finished fringing the edges of the other two linen layers, stuffed, and sewed the bottom the same way.

 

Jingle Bird.  Over and out.

 

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Me again

Hey.  What's happening?  Forgot to show how I hang ornaments from wall baskets.  I had a few emails asking, but can't find them now.  Other computer maybe? 

It's simple - just insert a thin nail or straight pin with a head into the outer rim of the basket, straight down.  Keep stabbing until you find a spot, leave it up about 1/2" and hang your ornament.  Use a magnet to pull the pin out should it fall all the way in.

It works great for flat back baskets too.

 

Jingle Bird is almost finished and I am feeling better today.  Why?  I talked to my sister and she can barely speak.  She just can't get her breath so the sooner this is done the better.   80% get their breath back, 20% do not.  We're thinking positive, still anxious, but it has to be done.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes.

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