Larry's Lousy Luck

Friends tell me I should write a book, 'cause stuff just happens at our house.

You remember Larry, my oldest Stooge. About six weeks ago, he screwed up his left knee at work, dislocating his kneecap. Last week he broke his right foot. The left knee is still in bad shape and pretty sore now since he's having to use it as his good leg.

It ain't over for Larry, poor guy.

His right leg has been hurting a good deal after he broke his foot. His leg - his foot hurts, but not so bad as the leg. And yesterday we found out why.

Poor Larry has acquired three clots in his lower right leg, probably as a direct result of the broken metatarsal. A clot like this is a deep vein thrombosis, or DVT. This is BAD. And it hurts - and can be deadly without treatment. A clot like this can move to your heart or your brain.

Larry and I spent the day going from one doctor's office to another. We got the diagnosis about 1:30 pm after spending all morning at the orthopedist then the vascular MD. We were finally sent to the ER, thinking that Larry would be admitted for 2 days. Fortunately, this was not the case. Our very nice ER doctor (he was cute too!) got Larry some injectable blood thinners and Coumadin and sent him home. Larry's to take the blood thinners until his Coumadin levels get to the right point, then take the Coumadin for at least six months.

He should be OK after this. Thank heavens.

He's been through a lot, has our Larry. He's a good kid, not accident prone, generally cautious and responsible. (I practically lived at the ER with Curly.) So this has really thrown him for a loop, and he's been pretty down. The ER doc told him he can go back to school as soon as the Coumadin levels are right, which should be Tuesday. The thought of going back to his paramedic classes on Wednesday cheered him up a good deal.

Whew. I could use a break from the crap. Maybe I should write a book.

And while we were out and about, I tatted a bit. This bit is done in the new thread I got from Tat-ilicious, her Pink Sunset or Queen Anthias. The colors are much more vibrant than show here. A cell phone and green fluorescent lighting tend to mess with colors.

Please God, no more issues for a while, m'kay?

 

Other doin's

A bit of tatting has been accomplished.

My old favorite, Mary Konior's Large Cross from Tatting with Visual Patterns, done in Lizbeth 142 (turquoise twist) size 20. My cell phone camera does not do justice to the vibrancy of the colors. I'll block or press it tonight. This is for a church friend, a recent widow.

BTW, if you are considering going to Palmetto Tat Days this year, this may convince you. Take a look at the pictures of patterns here! Some are mine, as I'll be teaching. One of mine is at the top of the list! (I love Dinky the Cat - too cute!)

Larry is doing a bit better, mostly since his demon mother pried him out of bed. I'm taking him back to the orthopedist tomorrow. He's pitiful. 

Things are growing in my yard.

 

Container grown tomatoes. Larry, Moe and I don't like these raw, only cooked. DH adores tomatoes any way he can get them.

Look carefully - those are plums on our tree!

And things are blooming.

Butterfly bushes, planted in front of our dining room windows. That way they become entertainment for the cats. Vader loves butterflies.

The occasional rose is blooming at the base of the plum tree. We have salmon colored ones elsewhere.

 

Some pretty fleurs Mother brought me last year, sitting on my front steps. They survived the mild winter.

Hosta thrives by my mailbox. Hmm, the Stooges need to edge the curb and sidewalk here.

Hope things look good where you are....

 

Prepping for Tat Days

I'm getting ready for Tat Days, which starts on September 23. The four classes I'm teaching have a nice number of students, but they aren't full. That suits me just fine, as too many students would be overwhelming. I've got some kits to prep - those are easy peazie to do. The only problem with teaching is that it's hard to work a class in for me to take. I'll live though!

Isdihara is to be my roommate for Tat Days. She and I bonded last year, and we should spend most of our free time giggling and being BAD. We are really silly together, so this should be a really good time. I hope we can get some sleep!

I'm continuing to work on the Count To Four necklace, and plan to have it finished to wear at the Tat Days banquet. It's looking nice, don't you think?

Saturday I had a weird little pre-birthday "present" when I got my eyes examined. I knew my eyes were going downhill, so I got a full workup dilation and everything. (I've been legally blind without glasses since I was in grade school.) Lo and behold, I found out that I need cataract surgery in both eyes, and quick. This kind of hit me hard, because when I think of cataract surgery, I think of old folks - and I don't think of myself as old. I'm 54, that's not old is it?

*sigh*

Anyhow, I'm scheduling the surgery as soon as possible, going for my left eye first. I'm seeing double out of that one eye (really) and it's basically useless. The bonus of cataracts surgery is I should be able to get my lifetime dreadful vision corrected so that I'll only need reading glasses. And I can get cute cheap reading glasses, stash them everywhere! So much better than the one super-expensive pair of bifocals I've been wearing.

Other than that unwanted surprise, my birthday was relatively uneventful. DH got me a nice flat screen TV for my office, which I love. Mom sent me some cool earrings. I talked to a bunch of friends and took a nice nap, then went out to eat. I've had much worse birthdays!

If you're still interested in coming to Tat Days, you can register on site, so come. You know you want to...

A little venting

I love my mother, truly I do, but sometimes she makes me wack-o.

I spent 2 nights at her house last weekend, including the night of my birthday. She had a birthday cupcake waiting for me. It was a large chocolate cupcake, with lots of chocolate chips and chocolate chunks and gobs of chocolate frosting. And a candle. Because it was a Birthday Cupcake.

So I took it home, happily. Yesterday I sent her this email:

The cupcake you sent has been gobbled. I couldn't eat it in one or even two sessions, but now I've tossed it down my gullet and I'm
sooowiredforsoundWHEEEsugarsugarcaffinechocolateBOUNCEumWHEEEEwhyismyheadspinning?

Woo. I haven't had that much sugar in a year. No lie. But it was sho nuff GOOD

And this is what I got in response:

I sorta thought you might hand out some of those pieces of that tiny cake to the boys, as I was not trying to make more trouble for your non-shrinking weight numbers. But whatever, it's done now.

And then she lectured me on how to lose weight.

WTF, Mom? How do you divide a cupcake? That YOU bought and gave to me?

*sigh*