Who Knew? Starting off a little crazy

Thursday (3/20) I got home from Retreat, unpacked, caught up with David and got ready to head our for the evening. No rest for the weary. LOL Our book club group decided we'd start celebrating birthdays by the quarter.  We have birthday's the 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters.  No one has a birthday in the 2nd quarter so I guess we'll think of something else to celebrate then. LOL. Pam wanted to be the first to offer her home to host the celebration.  We all brought hors d'oeuvres and desserts. It was perfect for the evening.

Pam lives on a hill and what a view she has out her kitchen window. She set a beautiful table with real china. She's setting the standard. I'm in trouble  LOL  The flower vases are for each of us birthday girls.

Knowing that I just got home from a quilt retreat Pam shared a few quilts. Love the Yoyo quilt but way more work than I'm ready for. It was a very fun evening of conversation and laughter.

       

Spring T-ball began for the boys. We haven't made it in for a game but heard both boys got a couple of hits in. Way to go!

Picture on the left is Killian at bat. Yep a lefty and then Braxton is up to bat and Killian got on base

We have a couple Indian Paintbrushes but none of our bluebonnets out front have shown up this year but our Roses are popping out like crazy.

The Yellow Julia Child Roses are doing great until the heat gets here. The Peggy Martin Roses have 100's of buds and a couple of blooms

 And our Belinda's Dream Roses are blooming. They seem to have got hit hard from the last freeze earlier this year. Hopefully they'll fill in and continue to provide lots of flowers.

These flowering trees are called a Chinese Fringe I think. They're at the entrance to Pamela and Kaleb's subdivision. it's so pretty.  We haven't gone driving the back roads to find bluebonnets yet this year.

April 1st brought high winds and spring weather.  Bruno and Sadie were having a grand ole time running and playing. He got tired and needed to cool off.  Our pretty boy

Jerry didn't want to be ignored so he came up for his share of attention. He looks great but my wind blown hair is a mess.  He's smiling too.

Pamela asked if I could make the boy's mother a quilt for their soon to be new little brother and I said yes. They all co-parent very well together. And if you know anything about divorced families you know what a blessing that is for all parties concerned.  So we went to the fabric store and she picked out all the fabric and I got busy. I used the pattern called Shadow Play and the quilting theme is busy bee. Julie and her family told me how much they appreciated and loved the quilt.  I'm glad.

    

Pamela shared pictures of the Nerf gun war at the Green House. I do believe they were having a blast.

The boys were winning until Kaleb sat up. LOL

So.... Saga Time.. I had been having trouble with severe heart burn. A drink of water could set it off.  My bariatric doctor had me do an upper GI in like February. It looked okay So he sent in a prescription for me to try for a while and it worked with the first pill. No heartburn. Then on March 4th when I went into the actual office for my annual and they suggested that maybe I should get an ultra sound of my gallbladder because that could be the cause of the severe heartburn.  

Which I did on April 2nd. By April 5th I was waiting for the results and that evening I started having severe pain. I had no clue what it was. BP was okay and heart rate was fine but I was in horrible pain for 10 hours. I slept most of Sunday. Glad that was over. 

Monday 4/7 I started calling the bariatric doctor and my primary doctor to see if anyone had seen the results of my ultra sound and tell them about my fun 10 hours of unknow pain. Primary care doctor in College Station said she'd refer me to a surgeon that I did have gall stones.  No call back from bariatric doctor yet. Monday was going okay until it wasn't.

That evening at 5pm the pain came back with a vengeance.

Pamela convinced me to go to the ER around 7:40pm. To be honest I didn't want to go through another 10 hours of unknown pain so I went. Two attacks in 2 days. It must be my gallbladder but dang I hadn't had any warning or prior issues except the heartburn until Saturday. Crazy how things work.

ER was slammed, no beds, and not nearly enough nurses to cover but I was there. They immediately got an IV put in, did a new ultrasound, and did blood work and back out into the waiting room till maybe around 11ish. They got me in a bed in the ER where I stayed until after the surgery I found out I was going to have. The night shift nurse Faith was awesome and started some pain meds going and the ER doctor came in at some point and goes your gallbladder is very angry. Tell me something I don't know doc. He told me that they were working on scheduling me for emergency Soap Dispenser Removal.  LOL. That's what he called the gallbladder.  We sent Pamela home but David wouldn't leave until the next morning after the surgeon came in to let me know I was on the schedule for 2-2:30pm.

David went home loved our poor babies and got a couple hours sleep.

Of course the ER was still slammed and I couldn't get a nurse to come in to shut the stupid IV pump up. Beeping continuously for over an hour and I needed to get up to go to the bathroom. After an hour and a half I was at my wits end so I removed the O2 sensor, unplugged my monitor leads but didn't know how to unplug the IV and I sure wasn't going to rip it out. The first one blew out so this one needed to stay. I was about to give up when a nurse finally came in.

So yep Life has been eventful.  I felt pretty good as soon as I woke up from surgery which they said I was a little slow in doing. Damn I was tired. No Gall stones escaped into the bile ducts so I was released Tuesday evening. Yay.

Oh and Wednesday the bariatric office called to say they finally got the results. I told them never mind, They were a day late and a dollar short. I had emergency surgery the day before. Thanks folks. The bariatric surgeon thought he'd do my gallbladder surgery.

One good thing out of this I meet the bariatric surgeon with Scott & White and I will be transferring my bariatric care to him. A Lot closer than driving the two hours I do now and all my doctors will be in one spot. I feel more comfortable especially having my cardiac team in the same system.

Well on good note ... I'm healing and doing so much better.

Until next blog...Each new day is a blessing. Let go of all worries and be grateful for all the positive in your life.

Sew Many things... Book club, Family Fun and Quilt retreat overload

 March was a good Month for book club. We almost had a full turn out for our meeting to review Gloria's book choice... Husband and Wife by K L Slater. This month we met at Ama's Mexican Restaurant in Hearne. We go somewhere different each month. I've read a few of K L Slater's books and so far I think this one was the best.  The key evidence was a scarf of the murdered victim was found at Parker and Luna's home. Did one of them kill the girl? Why was the scarf there? Parker's mom found it after Parker and Luna's accident when she went to pick up some items for their young son that she was watching until they recovered.  

There were so many questions and no answers. The ending caught us all off guard. Oh and I did I mention Nicola, Parker's mom was annoying and wouldn't let things play out. She was a Momma Bear. Our group would recommend
this book.  Such a Fun Group!

On Saturday 3/15 David went drag racing and this kids came up with the boys to keep me company.

Braxton and Killian drug out all their trucks and dino's to play but then they remembered they bought Jerry six pounds of carrots.  He can't all those at once. LOL  Jerry took his time coming up but the boys kept calling and he slowly worked his way up to the gate in the back yard and was rewarded with carrots from each of the boys. And the last activity for the day was fishing. Kaleb took them down to the pond but they get any bites this time. I think the water will still a tad cold for the fish to be biting. They did have lots of visitors. All the cows came over to the pond and checked out what the boys were doing.

It was getting close to dinner time so when they came back up to the house they washed up and we headed to a Mexican restaurant in Rockdale called Maricela's.  David and I really like the place. These two were very entertaining and behaved very well.

David missed the fun but he was home 

when we came back from dinner so the boys got to see and talk with Gpa before they had to head home. 

I have been packing my projects and notion all week and I had Kaleb load my one big sewing bag so David wouldn't have too so that when I get up Sunday morning (3/16) I can have my coffee and all I'd have to load up is my suitcase and food. I was ready.

Sunday Morning arrived... Had my coffee, finished my bag and packed up my food and I was off. David and the Pups were on their own. Made David promise not to climb any ladders or do anything where he could get hurt while I was away.

Thank goodness we still have a few ladies who can get on the floor to plug in necessary power outlets and the best part she can get up. LOL.  Thank you Denise for getting your section powered up.  

I love this purple fabric that Sandra is working with. She was smart she kept her eye on it. Some of us would have loved to have it show up in our stash. Okay so we'd never take it without permission. 

Ms Anna is working hard on a blue project

She's got it all cut, stacked and label for her log cabin.

This is Diana's quilt she shared. You start off with 4 square blocks across and 6 down and you cut it in specific area and it becomes this On Point blocks. Oh and she figured out where to place say those gold blocks so you don't have to cut them individually like we did the first time she showed us how to make this quilt.  Love it.

So now when we go to retreat I take our group picture the day we arrive right before we go out for our traditional Mexican food and Margarita. Found it much easier. Everyone has their makeup on and not running out to shop or napping.  This year a majority of us ordered matching Tshirts in whatever color. That was fun!

Now I did have this one trouble maker who came running in giving me lip service when I was trying to gather everyone together.  LOL Not really. I love Sheryl.  So would you like to know how many shots it takes to get everyone lined up, facing the camera, and smiling....... oh and the camera operator setting the camera up correctly.  At least 25 snaps. LOL but we had fun.

 And that friend ended up on the back row and almost don't see her. Oh the trial and tribulations of this group. Love them all to pieces.

Denise started this quilt a retreat or two ago and it's done!

Now this girl...! She's always entertaining, unless she's frustrated with the project she trying to me. I've seen it happen. LOL

She brought me two quilted quilts and I started getting the bindings on.    This is what it looks like when everyone is busy and sewing. Okay a couple are missing but one wasn't feeling well and the others were hiding. 

This is Sheryl's spot. She doesn't quilt but she does felting.  She takes this felt and turns it into various animals etc. This retreat she worked on chicks and those chicks were being ornery after she went to bed.

   

Isn't this the cutest pin cushion? It belongs to Diana. 

 

How about a fun game of Left Right Center? Playing with dollar bills makes it more exciting. Of course everyone is waiting for that left or right pass of the $.

This I believe was Connie's loss and Sandra's (the one dark green) Win!

Not only was this Sandra's 1st retreat that she was more relaxed but she won the Money. I'm sew glad she made it this retreat.

I believe this creation is Anna's.

 
This paper pieced quilt is finally finished. Donna Marie has worked on this for at least 2 retreats.  

This another non quilter and very creative artist. I think this creation is my favorite of all the artsy creations she's made.

Pat worked on this quilt top and back while at retreat.

   

And she shared this beautiful sunset she caught one evening at retreat.

 

Denise went to work on this top. Cutting and piecing. It's awesome. She had enough fabric that she started a 2nd top.

  

These are my over sized friendship star Mug Rugs for my friends Kelli and John.  I like the way these turned out.  I did get the binding stitched on the front of the 2 quilts that Donna Lynn brought to me that she finished quilting. Can't show them until I gift them. And I started another quilt. As of today I still need to add a couple of borders before sending it the my quilter Donna Lynn at Donna's Lavender Nest.

This was our last morning. Several had left but a few of us hung in there until it was time to have lunch and pack up.  This is definitely our favorite place to retreat. Great Host, great space, Lighting, Amenities and Food.  

And can I just say these ladies are gonna spoil me. They gave me this basket of goodies and cards for organizing our retreats. The retreats are for me too and enjoy them sew much.  Can't thank each of them enough for their support and kindness. Without them there'd be no retreats.

Well I've probably made you tired or maybe inspired a couple of you to be creative. Whatever that craft is, enjoy the process.

Until next blog...A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.