Busy Busy.... and what another retreat?!

Yep a week at quilt retreat play time is over and it's time to get back to the gym.  Three days a week I go to the gym to keep me and my knee moving. Trust me it's not my favorite thing to do and this week Kelli hasn't been there to keep me motivated but I pushed myself. But she says she'll be back.

On Monday (10/16) I went to quilting bee in Cameron. It was show and tell time.      Connie hid behind her finished quilt she shared. It's so bright and cheery.  Our newest member below on the left showed off her recent quilt finish. Too sweet. I went totally blank on her name as I type this but I think it ... Never mind.     

Thursday 10/19.. Was a Busy busy day and Long. We left the house at 8:15am to head to Houston. We still use our dentist in the Cypress area. Our hygienist Paula is a cousin. Once she was done with me she said to let David know she'd come get him in a minute after she cleaned up.  So David stood up and waited right by the door to scare her.

I don't think it worked. She was surprised but it didn't make her jump. Better Luck next time. But David does needs to remember that she holds sharp objects in her hand when cleaning his teeth. 

Once Paula finished torturing each of us we headed towards Spring to meet David's brother Gary and his wife Lynn. We've get to meet up more now that we're all retired. We met at the Cotton Patch off Kuykendahl and 2920. The first visit the staff seemed to be having issues getting the food and drinks out last time. Then they even had problems with the machine trying to check us out. We decided to give them another chance and wasn't sorry. The food was good and the service was spot on. In fact I think we had 3 different folks asking if we needed anything and if everything was okay.  Our tummies were happy.

After lunch we headed to my knee surgeon appointment. Dr. Laurita @Sterling Ridge Orthopedics said I had graduated out of his care and I didn't need to come back unless I started having problems. He was happy with my healing and progress. Yay! I mentioned to him about the bone, ligament or whatever running from the knee to my foot hurting if I have it angled just so. Such as when I forget and get out of the car with one foot first and then the right foot trails behind, it is very uncomfortable. He goes "well that could be my fault",  What! He explains that when he replaced my knee he straightened it out too.  Thanks I think. LOL But he did say in time it will be fine and I won't notice it. I told him that if and/or when I get my left knee replaced he won't be able to use that threat of putting me back in the hospital to manipulate the knee manually himself to get my range of motion back.  He done used that card. He laughed and said it worked didn't it. Mmmm I think my new knee did it when it was ready. I was working hard but it just wasn't ready to bend. But the new new knee feels much better and of course different, it's metal.

After this we headed to the Medical Center to see our good friend Sylvia.  Around October 1st she found herself in the hospital with secondary Leukemia due to the breast cancer treatment. She has a strong faith and attitude but please put her in your prayers. She'll be in the hospital for another 3-5 weeks because she has no immune system due to the treatment to kick this cancers butt. Love my friend. She even had the quilt I made her when she was going through breast cancer treatments on her hospital bed keeping her wrapped in love and hugs. We had a good visit. Hopefully we didn't tire her out.

Can I just say that the Medical Center is like a chaotic mouse maze. I can't believe how tight everything is with the buildings, all the construction, and watching out for the tram trains... Wow I'm surprised more people don't end up in the hospitals down there. But I'm glad Sylvia is in the best place for the best care. Now we won't comment on the food other than she's not impressed. Gotta love her. If I could have I would have brought her whatever she wanted but she's not allowed outside food or even flowers. Well how rude.

We left her around 5:30ish and headed home. We got home around 8:40pm. Our puppies were hungry and happy to see us.

 It made for a long but good day. We did a lot.

Pamela decided to try something new. She got rid of the blonde highlights and Brittany the stylist put a henna rinse on Pamela's hair. I love it. I always liked the blonde but I really like this color.  When the sun hits it the red tints pop out.

Saturday the 21st we went to check out the Rockdale Rodeo and Fair. There wasn't much happening at the time we went but we shopped the arts and crafts and clothing stuff.  We split a bbq sandwich and got a cold drink. And of course what else do you do but look at all the animals.                 First the goats. This little darlin wanted some attention so I scratched his head.  

Look at the legs on this pretty baby. 

Then we found the bunnies. Lots of bunnies. We found our neighbor Kate's bunnies. This particular day it was hot. We'd had a whole week of nice cool weather and the day the animals are shown it's hot. 

And I can't forget the piggies. I liked the color of this one. Pigs are cute when their little but I'm not so fond of them when they're big. This one seemed nice enough. LOl  She was hot and didn't care who was standing near her kennel.

Oh and we saw the same spider monkey that was in love with David the weekend before. He didn't want to walk to close to the area thinking if the monkey saw him again she'd coming scampering over. LOL  

From here we took a scenic drive over to Bryan/College Station. Did a couple errands and stopped at the Kroger that looked like the lot for the remake of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds. Holy Cow there was many of them.

I had to take a picture of me in my new shirt that Kelli bought me. She's always giving me a bad time about not having any shirts that fit now that I've lost so much weight. This one fit just right.  And I love the western theme.

I have to share my new T-shirt I got the other day. LOL I'll be wearing it on the first of my retreat next March. I thought it appropriate. I saw another one that said I sew with a quilt gang but now I can't find it..                                                          So speaking of quilt retreats...  on Monday 10/23 I got a call from Sandy Y., a former co-worker/one of the gals that retreats with me and she asked if I'd be interested in going on a quilt retreat with her Quilt Guild Gals. I ask when and she goes on Wednesday the 25th. What?! Oh wow they're going to Stitchin' Heaven in Quitman, TX and it's on my bucket list to go stay there. Uhhh so I tell her let me get back to you on this shortly..  I've only been home 4 days from my retreat and oh wow what am I thinking. Going on another retreat so soon. I went to David and told him the deal. He did the same thing I did... "What Wednesday? The day after tomorrow Wednesday?" Yep I say. Of course he said go if I want to and I went back to Sandy and said Yes. She tells me 2 of the ladies had to drop and asked if maybe one of our other friends might want to come. And sure enough Donna V. wanted to come so we were roomies.  I hadn't finished unpacking my project bag from my retreat yet so that part was basically ready to go but I need to pack a suitcase.  And I'll be off again..

Tuesday the 24th was a bad day for Pamela because she had to let Sophie cross the Rainbow Bridge. Pamela got Sophie when she was 8 weeks old  and now at 11 years old she had to say good-bye. It's hard to lose our furry family members. I'm glad and thankful that Kaleb was with Pamela to help support her.  We're gonna miss our little pillow princess.

This was taken the week before Pamela had to say goodbye after her and Bri were groomed. She was a tiny and that made Bri look that much bigger. Bri seems to be a little lost and looks for Sophie but that too shall pass.

On that same day Kelli and I had a pumpkin succulent decor class at a cute place called Lissa's Restyled Sip and Shop in Caldwell, TX led by Texas Terrariums Creative director, Jessica Zamora. I was thinking we'd be planting the plants into the pumpkin but no we actually glued them to the pumpkin. If we water them with a spray bottle correctly they will begin to sprout roots and when the pumpkin rots we can gently remove the succulents and plant them in a pot.  Holy cow though the pumpkins were huge. We were expecting pumpkins about half this size or even smaller. LOL

There was 14 ladies present for a fun evening of pumpkin decor. There might have even been some wine involved. The wine enhanced the learning experience. I know Kelli would agree.

The first one is Kelli's and the second one is mine. I hadn't added the ribbon when I took my picture.  They came out pretty cute. They need more decor since the pumpkin is so big but for my first time it came out okay. Lissa is hoping to have a sign painting class one day soon too. I hope I can go.

Wednesday (10/25) morning arrived and I left around 8:20am to drive my 3 hrs and 12 minutes to Quitman to hang out and meet some new quilters and have fun. Donna had to drive 4 hrs and some odd minutes to get there from Houston. 

I'll close out for now but the next post I will share about the retreat and the awesome ladies Donna and I met.

Until my next post..I think I've discovered the secret of life -you just hang around until you get used to it. ~ Charles M Schulz