Still Trudging Along & Special Visitors

 Let me start with a Yahoo.  Went to my 8 week follow up visit with the surgeon Thursday 6/22 and he's not gonna hurt me. LOL. He had scared me at my 6 week visit that if I didn't get to a range of motion of 110 degrees that he was going to stick me back in the hospital, sedate me and manipulate my knee himself. Scared me to tears. I didn't get to 110 but he said 95 was a good start. He feels certain I'll get there or close to it by the 12 week visit.  I sure hope so because my knee wants to bend. But he suggested the physical therapist increase the intensity.  Yay not so much.

I wanted to do something for David on Father's Day even though we had celebrated the weekend before with Pamela and Kaleb. So I suggested I take him to lunch and maybe go to the Rising Sun Vineyards in McDade to pick up our wine. And off we went. We went to the winery first and ordered a drink. I got a Red Wine Sangria and David got a Watermelon Cooler. Both were very tasty.  We walked over to the event barn to get our wine bottles and apparently food. As members we got free food.   We were served a combo of brisket and pulled pork sandwich with a spicy mac n cheese with beans.  I ate what I could and passed the rest to David. He didn't decline. 

After we ate we walked outside to one of the picnic tables that was in the shade to finish our drinks. It was a bit breezier out there than in the barn. Because yes it was HOT everywhere.

So David got him some wine and we got feed but I still owe him lunch or dinner since this one was free.  Which he got the next day. I took him to dinner at El Charro in Cameron. 

Of course I can't post a blog with something about the pups. (Over sized lap dogs)  Well David tossed the ball down the hall toward the front door of which Bruno retrieved and promptly jumped onto the recliner arms. He literally straddled David by balancing on the arms of the chair. Can you see the yellow ball behind David's neck? Bruno dropped the ball on top of David's head and proceeded to give him kisses. Crazy dog.. Never a dull moment.

Friday, 6/23 I went to PT on my own. I've driven myself to PT about 3 times and I think David is ready to turn me loose. LOL. Anyway I had a nail appointment set up and I knew he wouldn't want to wait around for that. Pamela also had an appointment at the same time so we met up and she took me to lunch at a new place to me anyway. A place called the Taco Bar.

I ordered two street tacos. One was beef fajita and the other was shrimp. I was thinking since that they are small like they'd fit in the palm of my hand I could handle two. 

Nope, only 1 1/2 and basically even the half I ate. I primarily ate the shrimp inside.  They were very tasty though.  I'll go back again.  

Last week I got an email from one of my book club members letting me know the band she plays in would be playing Saturday, 6/24 at the Pony Express. I asked David if we could go and we did. Peggy is the drummer. When she plays with them the band name is known as the Southern Groove but when the regular drummer plays, the band is called the Road Kings.  Whatever the name the band is good. They played a lot of oldie but goldies. Really enjoyed listening to them. Thanks to Peggy for letting me know.

David loves to landscape. The Belinda Dream roses line the front of the house and have been blooming like crazy. I'll have to catch them blooming when they're fresh but I took this one of a single bloom. The heat is turning the petals brown semi quickly. 

Tuesday, 6/27 we had a special visitor, well several visitors. Our Godchild Michelle was in from Indiana visiting her parents and she came up for a visit. We got to meet her baby girl Eloise for the first time. She's even cuter in person.  Michelle, Eloise, Michelle's Mom: Gigi and her Abuela: Selma came to the farm for a visit.  They took Eloise out to feed the donkey, Jerry. I was working on finishing up lunch. I should have told David to take pictures.  I heard Eloise did a great job feeding Jerry and Jerry behaved himself too.  It was so great seeing them all. Pamela came up and joined us too. Gigi is Pamela's Godmother.

It was a wonderful day. 

Well I finished a quilt top and it's on its way to the quilter. I'll share pictures when it's done and the recipient has received it. It came out really cute and can't wait to share. 

It's been a year and almost 2 months since my bariatric surgery and I've lost 86 pounds. My goal is to lose another 70 at least. I've hit several plateaus along the way but I'm still working on it. I've hit one now in fact and I'm sure it's due to not walking like I was at the gym. I hope to go back to the gym in the next few days. I'm doing PT 3 days a week but that's mostly for trying to get my range of motion back since my knee replacement. I'll start slow at the gym but they have a few of the same machines at the gym that I can use to help continue those knee bend exercises plus try to walk on the treadmill. Not sure what my knee will think of that but I'll find out. And maybe just maybe I can get off this plateau.

Now off to start another quilt top.

That's it for June.

Until next blog....A quilt is something you make to keep someone you love…Warm!

Landscape, Quilts, and Family

 Hello friends and family

I may get back into the swing of things yet. 

First I want to let the anonymous commenter about my red and white rose is called Scentimental.  Mine doesn't appear to have long stems but I'm happy with it either way. LOL  My first bloom on my rose.  Can't wait for more.  

To my 2nd anonymous commenter on the Doctor, taxes and Chaos post. LOL, you're right no one died and we're all healing up just fine. I understand about the working and dealing with chaos. I was trying to work when my mother's dementia started along with her being paranoid about things while my step-Dad was out of town.  I'd get a call and I'd drive about 40 miles to my Mom and get her settled down. We all do what we have to. Family. It's just me for my Mom.

Recently Pamela's friend Spenser posted a picture of her boys on facebook and I noticed the quilt they were laying on. It's the one I made for her oldest boy Ellis.  Awwww. I believe he has gotten taller than the quilt these days. Emmott is the baby. It's nice to see her using the quilt. That's why I made it. Didn't want her to put in a closet to keep safe. Makes me happy.

We have a big couch and Bruno was taking up most of it but Sadie found the smallest spot to curl up right behind him. LOL   And then she wanted to turn upside down. She's a mess.

Pamela and Kaleb have the boys this month for a couple of weeks. So they took them to the Brazos Expo Center last weekend for the Dinosaur Expo. The boys had a blast.

They were dressed to for a dinosaur exploration..    They were sure about this dinosaur.  They kept looking back at him to make it wasn't trying to get them.

But they had lots of fun!

And that's the important thing.

On June 8 I had to go to my surgeon for a 6 week follow up. Yay. Knee is healing but it's not wanting to bend the required 135 degree range of motion.  I got it up to 100 but doctor wants 110. And as time has progressed the best I've done is 97 lately. So I'm not looking forward to the next visit if the knee doesn't perform properly.  The doctor has told be he would put me back in the hospital and put me out so he could manipulate the knee.  This way he can break up the scar tissue that keeps building up.  Sounds peachy. NOT! I've got two more PT sessions but they're not looking promising.

After our doctor visit we went to find something to eat and ended up in Old Town Spring at our old stomping ground, Puffabelly's. We used to go there to see and listen to Davin James and his various guest.

The place has changed inside but the food was still very tasty.  

Miss going there on Thursday nights for live up close music.

My youngest niece, Emily that I used to call the Tiny Dancer is expecting her first baby. Living in Texas means that I don't get back to Missouri so easily or often. But my sister & Emily shared pictures from the baby shower.  At least I get to live through the pictures.  

       

Recently I went to lunch with my neighbors Linda and Gloria. They came to pick me up since I haven't been driving. When we walked out Linda teased David that he was slacking because these pots had dead plants in them.  She started laughing. She said that he always has the prettiest landscape around. She told me that if she tried to landscape like this they'd have to be plastic and with the Texas heat they'd probably melt. LOL.. So after that David went and bought plants to put in the pots and at this time he has put out multiple yards of mulch. He just went and got another trailer full to finish off all the flower beds. Then he plans to start spreading it.

Tuesday, June 13th the Gause Girls had our book club meeting at Cameron Beer Market in Cameron. Only 6 out of 12 members could make it this time but life does happen.  It was a great place to meet. We could hear everyone's comments and the food was yummy.   Our book this month was Blowback by James Patterson.  Starts semi slow and then it explodes into action. One crazy president with an agenda and ready to push the Red button. Every Chapter seemed to end with a cliffhanger and you couldn't stop reading or listening. We all really liked the book and would recommend it.

So the quilting bee I go to suggested that we all make a log cabin quilt using a fabric of our choice if we didn't want to use Kaffe Fassett fabric. Well I have lots of the fabric so I decided to use it. I think I have enough cut to make another smaller quilt. We'll see. This line of fabric all works well with each other and I made mine very scrappy. The block, the setting triangles and the binding. It's bright and colorful. And I finally finished it. My friend Donna Lynn at Donna's Lavender Nest quilted it with a quilt theme called Double Bubble. I love it. I made a simple triangle label for the back. This one I'm keeping.

   

David drove me into PT early the other day so we could stop at a garden in Bryan called the Idea Garden so I could take pictures of my quilt.

That's it for now. 

Soo until next blog post..    "I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve." ~ Montesquieu

Country Life and loving it.

Whew.. I'm tired and I haven't been doing that much. This post may be all over the place. LOL. When all you do is go to PT and some errands and your knee screams at you.  The pain has subsided to a mild annoying ache and no pain meds needed. I have also gotten 4 hours of sleep at a time. I was waking every hour uncomfortable then I made it 2 hours, then 3 and now 4. 4 hours makes for a happier Carla. Probably David and the Dogs too. But I'll be damn if my sleeping didn't go back to waking up every hour or two.  My range of motion has gotten up to 80 degrees so that's another plus. My PT massaged the muscle around the incision hoping to help loosen things up. We shall see. Cross your fingers. I use the cane after PT but most of the time it hangs on a chair in the kitchen.  I have to concentrate to walk normal and bend my knee. Otherwise I tense up and I walk stiff legged. 

David shared a story about our wild fur child Sadie. She loves the cows and she seems to have a connection with the one I call Woolly Bully. Woolly Bully is at the fence with Sadie barking at him. He doesn't move and one of his horns is sticking through the fence and Sadie literally begins to gnaw on it like a chew toy. Neither one of them were fazed.  Just another day around here.

When I got home from knee surgery I went to sit in my recliner and David begins to build a fort around me so the dogs wouldn't jump on me or my knee. This was my view...

David came in from the front yard saying we lost one of our little trees in the front. How, Why? Apparently it must have had a split in the tree and when we had the freeze it split the tree further and the tree finally lost it's fight in the wind storm we had.  Same thing happened to Pamela's tree in her backyard that had been there for a couple of years. Dang.

David has already replaced it with another tree that he had bought for another location but he decided it was needed here instead.

The farm always supplies us with surprises and new visitors.  David was cleaning off the outdoor kitchen and working in the flower bed outside my north sewing window and saw this nest in the Camelia bush. He watched and it's the eggs of a red bird.  Fun. Only problem is I haven't been in my sewing room since my surgery so I never saw anything happen and when I looked yesterday the nest was destroyed.  Sad.

When David walked around off the patio he found another creature staying cool in my flower bed.  LOL Sadie.  

A couple weeks out from surgery our little book club G3 in Gause was meeting and I couldn't join Dang it.  I could hardly sit in a car for anytime without being uncomfortable so going to dinner and sitting in a hard chair for a couple of hours discussing a book did not sound fun. So I put my co-heart in crime Kelli in charge while I sat at home. Bah hum bug. Kelli did a great charge getting the discussion going for our book Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks. And she wrote up the book and meeting review. Who doesn't like a good Nicholas Sparks book?  This book was about dreams, 2nd chances, and mental health. The book followed Colby as he took a break from the farm to chase his dream of being a musician. He was talented, caring and honorable. Then it jumped to Betty and her young son running from an abusive husband/dad.  It was a good book and it tied up all loose ends. Ahh Kelli let everyone off the hook and they didn't take a group picture. Bad girls. LOL  That's okay... I hope to be back in June and I'll take pictures, the little brats. LOL

So about 3 1/2 almost 4 weeks after the knee surgery I felt like doing something constructive. I managed to sweep all the floors with the dust mop and use the vacuum on the area rugs. That pretty much finished me but I could sit and do some handwork. I mended some pants for Pamela and mended her Tiger who developed a couple of holes. And best of all I put the binding on a small quilt that I had just gotten back from the quilter. My sweet friend put the binding on and I just had to do the handwork to finish the binding while sitting in my recliner and icing my knee.

This little quilt is 42"x43". Perfect for a baby boy. The fabric is bears and trees and the quilting them is called woodland creatures with deer, trees and bears.  

And this is the backing. This quilt does not have a home so if you're interested in buying it. Make a comment or send me an email and I'll let you know the price.  

I need to get better so I can start on a couple of girl quilts for 2 new great nieces that will be arriving later this year. I may be running late. 

I was scrolling through this site that I shop at periodically so I could buy the boys a truck to play with.  I had bought myself a red and yellow one but they like blue and green. When they come up to play at the house next time they'll each find a truck in their favorite color. The truck doors open and close. Plus I found plates that will suction to the table surface. They came with a fork and spoon but they can eat with regular utensils if they like, but I thought the plates were cool.  One is a grey blue and the other green. mmm Favorite colors. 

This is just crazy. Gause sits on Hwy 79 between Hearne and Milano there's no creek or river near by but we've getting a fair amount of rain this year and on May16th we got rain that actually flooded the town. It's literally the wide spot in the road. 79 goes from a 2 lane to 4 lanes when you go through Gause. Thanks to a neighbor, Tammie,  who lives on the other side of the tracks from the town who took these pictures I can share the high water. This is crazy.  

To end the blog for the month... Here's our two 70# lap dogs who are waiting for their furless day to come back inside and trying to look so innocent. Yeah right.   And a picture of the grand floofs Bri and Sophie. Pamela called and asked if I'd stop by the house after PT because she thought she had dropped her chocolate chip cookie on the floor so she wanted to make sure the girls were okay. And as you can see they are just fine.  Come to find out Kaleb ate her cookie that's why she couldn't find it in her lunch bag. LOL.

That's it for now.  Off to ice the knee.

Until next blog post.. Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, in their own way can turn on a small light in a dark room...  From the movie "Small Light". Story from Anne Frank