Happy New Year - - Choices

Yes, another new year begins. WooHoo, I guess.

I guess I don't sound too excited.  After two months of "retirement," I find that my biggest problem is making a decision about what to do. Yes, there are way too many choices!!!  I feel just like the woman in the picture - somewhat crazed.  Hell, maybe a lot crazed.

While I was still working (and not just looking for a job in this impossible market), I thought I didn't have time to do all the things that I wanted to do.  I had lists of quilting and knitting and needlework ideas, more lists of books to read and classes to take, still more lists of projects I wanted to do around the house and places to go.  The list of lists can go on and on.  Now, theoritically, I have more time.  That's not true; I actually do have more time.  I can do a few of the things on my lists.  I cannot do all of them at least not this week, month, year or probably even decade, and I find myself stuck.  Just STUCK.  If I start this then I can't do that.  Sounds like a luxury problem of abundance to me, and it is; but it's driving me frigging crazy.

So, I've decided to post a few goals for each month here. Then I can hold myself accountable - and I will have to make a decision in order to write (yes, another) list.

I have only one actual resolution for this year:  No more surgeries.  I'm tired of getting fixed and healing.

Good luck - Enjoy 2012 - Make it yours - I'm gonna try to make it mine!!

Freedom Day . . . .

. . . . . or is it?

My job was eliminated or absorbed. So, I am unemployed as of 3 pm yesterday afternoon. What does a 61 year old woman who "walks funny" (more about which later) do? Yes, first stop is unemployment, yet will I find a job? Men and women in their prime with good educations and lots of experience are finding it difficult to find employment, so my chances are probably somewhat slim.

I'd planned to retire early but not this early. I'm going to need to sell my house. The market is great . . . NOT!!! We'll see!!

Yet, I am not sad in the least. The possible end to my working career was anti-climactic to say the least; today feels like Saturday; AND I'm glad that I did not HAVE to go to the office today. Check back in a few months to see if I still feel that way - or maybe even more so.

I have so very much I want to do. The name of this blog tells the story, and I hope to share my adventures here.

This post's purpose is to document this momentous (to me) event. I'd like to express some overwhelming emotion to go with the event, but about all I can muster is "weird." Not too significant! One reason for that is that I think I may be getting the creeping crud - - coughing, sneezing, tight chest, fatigue -- you know the signs. Hopefully is just bad allergies - I was a good girl and had my flue shot. Let's hope it's protecting. The fact that I didn't get it until yesterday may be why it is not in production mode yet. :-)

Here's to productivity, happiness and peace!!!

Bluework Quilt

This is the status of my bluework quilt. I am going to do my best to complete it this month. I worked on one of the little blocks for a while this evening. I don't remember the size that the finished quilt will be. I designed it in EQ4 or EQ5 - somewhere between 8 and 10 years ago. I carted the litlle box that housed the blocks (you can see it in the picture) for quite some time. Somewhere along the line I set it aside and almost forgot about it. In fact, it was pretty hard to find. It was not in my sewing room anywhere, and let me tell you, I looked!! I found the box in a drawer (pushed all the way to the back) in the table next to where I sit on the sofa. Actually, where I sit is a recliner with a standing Ott light above my head. It's the best place ever to sew or applique or embroider or knit or read. I think this place is my favorite place to be or at least one of them. Where do you sit when you do needlework and read?

2011 UFO Challenge

I am going to join Judy's UFO Challenge. The rules are to pick 12 UFOs to work on and number them 1 to 12. On the first of every month Judy (or Vince) will pick a number, and that's the quilt we work on for the month. I have not sewn much in over 3 years. I know, it's very, very sad. After my former husband died in 2007, I just lost my mojo. I even bought a new Bernina 440 in 2009 before my surgery - thinking that I was ready to go, but I was wrong. I knit some this year but didn't sew because my sewing room was just not ready for prime time, and I wasn't able to lift much of anything. I know excuses, excuses. Well, I'm hoping that the excuses come to a screaching halt this year. I'm going to do my best to work on these projects. I am listing the project along with the amount of work that I plan to do to call it complete.

1. Pink and rose baby quilt - fix the pinwheel centers, quilt and bind.
2. First ever quilt - fix some piecing problems, quilt and bind.
3. Heart Quilt - finish putting the rows together, quilt and bind.
4. Road to Health - finish the blocks and get to top stage.
5. Southwest Whatever - get it to the top stage.
6. Blue work quilt - finish the embroidery and put together the top.

7. Louise Memorial Quilt - quilt and bind. Give to Lee.
8. Ohio Star Quilt - plan setting and put the top together.
9. Christmas Row by Row Quilt - put rows together, quilt and bind.
10. Flower Box Quilt - finish blocks and get top together.
11. Use blocks from circle quilt to make a tote.
12. One block small quilt for bathroom - quilt and bind.

I will have pictures for each of these quilts soon.

Bye Bye 2010

Oh Lordy, am I glad this year is coming to an end.


It was a difficult one for me. I had 3 major surgeries. To my way of thinking, that's at least 2 too many! I'm kind of stretching the truth a bit here because my first surgery was actually on December 29, 2009, but I think that's close enough to this year to count. I did most all of my recovery this year.

I'm not going to make this a long, long story, but for those who care to know . . . . the first surgery on 12/29/09 was a triple discectomy and a triple fusion of my cervical spine. This was pretty wonderful. I'd had chronic pain in my shoulders and middle back for 9 years, and the surgery took 90% of the pain away 90% of the time. That's pretty miraculous if you ask me. A few months after the surgery and once I was off all pain medication, my left hip started hurting - a lot. I went to physical therapy and had a cortisone shot, but they didn't work very well, so on July 7, 2010, I had my right hip replaced. Everything seemed wonderful, and then my right thigh started hurting every time I put any weight on the leg. On August 12, the week before I was supposed to go back to work, my right femur broke. I guess I could have said that I broke my leg, but it sure did feel like the leg came apart and caused me to fall rather than the other way around. This was not a good thing! On August 16 I was back in the hospital having my hip replacement redone and my femur cabled around the stem that went into my bone. The recovery from that little trip was long . . . . long . . . . long . . . . and it seemed longer than that. I'm up and around and can walk pretty well (without a limp - woohoo!!). AND, I'm glad the year of surgery and recovery is almost over.

I am looking forward to and welcoming 2011 as the year of health and accomplishment; however, I probably won't read as many books in 2011 as I did this year.

Which reminds me, I just finished Stephen King's UR. A short little novella about an Amazon Kindle for the Kindle -- clever, huh? -- and so King!! But, the book is not very good. It's predictible and not scary or even very weird. Sigh!! When King is on he's on, this time he was off. :-(


Waiting for the new year . . . . Ray

My Rainbow

This sounds about right to me.

Your rainbow is strongly shaded blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a tranquil person. You appreciate friends who get along with one another. You share hobbies with friends and like trying to fit into their routines.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Butt Sitting

Here I sit - on my butt. I do have a reason - I'm recovering from total hip replacement surgery - with a twist. I am 4 weeks into recovery; however, yesterday my doctor put me back "on" the walker. My hip is doing great; no pain from there. But, my right leg, above and below my knee and down my shin, has been painful to the point that I can barely walk (or sleep) for the past week. Yesterday, I went in to see the doc; then spent almost 4 hours getting an ultra-sound to check for clots, then an x-ray to look for any problems with the prosthesis. I got a clean bill of health (Whew!!!) as far as serious complications go, so the doc said "we" needed to slow me down. So, I'm using the walker to uh . . . . walk. I have to admit that the doc is a genius -- I'm not limping, and the pain is much less (probably the Norco helps a bit). Mostly, tho, I'm sitting on my butt. Good thing I love to read. :-)