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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Off to a great start

In order of happening.

1. Preparing to make the pies, only to find out that the Walmart clerk gave my bag with 3 large cans of Libby pumpkin to the person next in line.  We usually check to make sure all our purchases are off the turntable.  We didn't.  Go to the nearest store to spend another $10?  No, because of #2.

2.  I've been off balance for two days and taking Antivert, which puts me to sleep and aggravates the crabass condition.  No driving.  Husband is golfing in 45 degrees, and searching for more pinecones.

3.  The pies are made with outdated cans of Libby's pumpkin, that weren't ballooning, so they should be good.  This because of #1 and #2.  I drank the filling so we should know before anyone else eats them if there will be an intestinal disturbance.  I've got 24 hours for testing.

4.  Not realizing that an all black digital panel means the oven died (refer to #2), I am staring at it, wondering if it has reached temperature yet.  No it hasn't.  But if you pound on it, blue lights will come on before again shutting down two minutes later.  Two years old, add that to the $10 pumpkin loss and we are now at $2210 plus tax.

5.  Now the pies are in a basic model gas stove in the basement, which means I am going up and down the stairs to change temp, cover crust, check for done, while dizzy, sleepy, painful ankle.  Don't forget crabby.

So far, the day is just splendid.

6. I am having the dinner here tomorrow.  But Mark will be home to run up and down the stairs, carry the heavy bird, and take care of all those foody issues.  I'll be sticking close to the bathroom.

7.  Missy is somewhere in the house, and I can't find her.  That little monkey is such a stinker.

8.  The large order of Christmas gifts I place online, expected today, can't be tracked.  They don't have a record of it since it was sent to the wrong distribution center.  I'm sure it will show up before Christmas.

9.  Google changed my dashboard again and I have to click a link to get my Reading List of blogs.

The good news .....  I am still here to experience all this aggravation.  Family is still here with me.  I found a great face color for stitching.   The snow melted.   And I have online friends like you.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Well, I thought I was finished

But the 613 has to go.  From a short distance, there is no definition of the skin, brows, and beard. I used the same thread as charted but it doesn't look it.

 

 Not sure if adding a 3/4 stitch of white around the eyes was the right move, but regardless, it has to go. 644 or 822 may be the color but I won't know until I pull the floss.  The linen color really has nothing to do with it.  So disappointed.  I tried several darker and lighter shades for the face but nothing created enough contrast.

 

But the bright spot, I learned about 3864 which was never a contender for fleshtone.  I'm so glad I finally made a trip to JoAnn's and purchased this color to follow the chart because I've always disliked the very pinkish face color of my PS Santas.  This shade is perfect.  Pink but not really, tan but not really. This will be my Santa face color from now on, no more pink predicaments.

 

 

And as we think about our blessings at Thanksgiving, I have a request.  Stop the fricking hate speech.  I am sick and tired of hearing about division from people that insult, name call, and CREATE even more than we have experienced these last several years.  I know people that voted for Trump (one is my 92 year old aunt), some lifelong Democrats in their 80's, that have given to others their entire life. They do not deserve to be called racists, idiots, ignorant.  It is their right, just as it is yours, to vote their choice. If you want your right respected then start respecting theirs. Those that call people dividers and haters can't see that they are the same. If the outcome was reversed, and Trump won the popular vote, would you still insist the electoral college be thrown out?  Please don't divide your friends and family over this.
 

Rules for this year's holiday - turkeys free of hormones and antibiotics, dinners free of politics, guests free of insults, children free of hateful displays, hearts free of hostility.

 

Thanks for visiting.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

 

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