I'm not dead yet

I'm back...

I'm not dead yet.

I've been very busy with non-tatting stuff. It's been a hard, tough few months, but I'm getting through. I'm sorry I haven't blogged.

I really can't go into the BIG stuff, but here's a bit of what I've been dealing with:

I had a breast biopsy that showed something, and I had breast surgery. Fortunately, it's not cancer, just something called an intraductal papilloma. And it's gone. My surgeon doesn't want to see me again for a year.

My mother has sold her big house in the mountains, and has bought a condo on the other side of Hotlanta, within walking distance of my sister A. Mom is delighted in her new place. She has a lot of friends in the area and is happy to go onto this new phase of her life. I helped Mom clean out her big mountain house, and I inherited a bunch of new-to-me furniture. I'm really relieved that Mom is off the mountain - I worried about her there.

Curly has violated a probation rule - twice - and is now in the pokie. He'll be getting out in 3 weeks. I'm sad, but it's all his own doing.

Little Larry

Larry is moving out!!!! He's moving to the middle of Florida, on the east coast. He has a good plan and affordable housing. He's studying and hopes to pass his FL EMT exam soon. I'm very pleased with this - he's moving on Friday!
 

At Finger Lakes

And I've been teaching - I taught at the Finger Lakes Tatting Conference the 2nd weekend in April.

Here's J and my hostess Ginny

 I stayed with Ginny, who's just lovely. She taught a great class on a doily she designed.

Lots of folks there - here's Dr Vicki (a hoot and a half!) and Diane.

The Finger Lakes ladies were so sweet and kind - and great tatters! I had a great time....

More later - not such a long wait this time!
 

Mom's necklace is finished.

I have finished the necklace for my mother.

It's inspired by Sally, from a star pattern by Jane, in Lizbeth 20. I hope Mom likes it - 'cause if she doesn't, I'm taking it back. I think it's pretty, if I do say so myself.

My friend Mrs V gave me some nifty gifts. The little boxes are for holding beads - they originally held dental crowns! (Mrs. V does dental work.) And the darling little kitty is a needle minder with a VERY powerful magnet. Me likey!

Larry got a bit of further bad news on Friday. While his injuries are healing nicely (thank heavens!), he has missed so many of his paramedic classes that he has to start over. Again. The next class starts in September. Larry is pretty morose and has been having a bit of a pity party. ("Why does everything happen to me!?!") I'm ok with a pity party, as long as it only lasts for 30 minutes. Then buck up, son.

Enough of the pity party. Here's a bit of what's growing in my yard.

Gladiolas!

And lilies! It's been a lovely summer so far...

Necklace in Progress

After I saw Sally's pretty necklaces, I was inspired to tat one. Here's my progress so far.

There will be one more of Jane's Star motifs here, then some split rings. I'm making this for my mother, whose pallet of jewelry is pretty limited. She mostly wears black and white or grey or silver. Soooo, she's getting a black and silver necklace.

I made her this one several years ago, and she wears it a lot. The pendant is a black and silver glass butterfly.

Moe is home from NYLT camp Friday night. He came back hoarse and very stinky, which meant that he had a great time. BTW - he was so stinky that DH drove the whole 60+ miles home with the car windows open. As soon as Moe set foot inside the house, I made him strip to his undies in the laundry room. Peeuw!

Larry is finally recovering! As of Friday, his Coumadin levels were good. And he told me that the blood clots have stopped hurting, which means that the medicine has tunneled through the clots and is allowing normal blood flow in his legs. He's to go back to school tomorrow, and I hope he's able to get physical therapy today. He's a grump and a half to be around, and I've told him he needs to work on his attitude. But I'm very grateful he's doing better.

Vader is being himself. He's pretty worthless.

Christmas Eve

Not a Creature was stirring, not even a cat.

Vader, dreaming of biting Sophie.

I've been wrapping and buying and making things and working and picture taking and visiting and all things Christmas.

At this time of year, my bedroom turns into Wrapping Central. It's chaos there. But most things have been wrapped.We aren't doing a lot for the kids this year, as money is so tight. But folks are doing better at the house. I think DH is going back to work at the first of the year. He is feeling much better, and for that we are grateful.

I got to see my Mom this week, at a place of my choosing, a nice Thai place. We had a nice visit and laughed and enjoyed ourselves. I'll see her and 2 of my siblings (my sisters) and their families on Boxing Day. We'll meet at my sister's place on the other side of Hotlanta, and we always have a good time.

In between things, I've been amusing myself by watching Very Mary Kate (so bad). and crocheting catnip balls to give to all my family - we ALL are cat people.

And I found this, about Christmas presents for children. It is AWFUL. And very, very funny.

And look for the Stooges in an upcoming film, filmed in Hotlanta!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Christmas Frenzy

It's a bit wild here at Chez Crazy, but I'm sure that almost everyone who works and has kids is in the mode right now.

We did get the Christmas tree up. (Please notice the large Vader cat underneath.) Somehow my entire box of handmade Christmas angels has disappeared, hence the conspicuous bare upper branches. I especially miss my cornhusk angel, purchased at a farmer's market.

As you can tell, I haven't wrapped a damn thing.

Moe has put lights on the outside of the house. He keeps begging for more lights, including the icicle kind for the porch edge. He's a Griswold in the making.

Today I took Christmas pictures of the Stooges in front of the tree. I had to threaten various forms of torture before I could get them together at the same time in something other than a ratty t-shirt. They all claim that this is a huge imposition and why didn't I tell them about this? (We do this every year at this time.) Do we have to? Umm, yes. Because I'm the Mama and that's final. Suck it up, cupcakes.

I was able to get some good shots of the trio plus some individual pictures. I've gotten pretty good at this over the years.

Moe got Vader in on the action. Vader wasn't happy. (He's so funny. Vader seems fierce and tough, but when picked up, he goes LIMP. No claws.)

In other news...

My mother is now is Hotlanta for the winter, renting a condo on the other side of town. She arrived on Thursday, and I'm very glad to have here closer by. The mountain home is lovely but remote, and the generator doesn't work. She's been snowed in for as much as 3 weeks at a time. Mom not getting any younger, so I feel she's much safer here. (The condo is about a mile from my sister #2.)

Mom never really worked and never had to deal with rush hour in a big city, so she's sort of clueless of what my life is like. She called me and wanted to schedule dinner with us sometime this week. Normally this would be lovely, but it's the week before Christmas and I'm absolutely crazed at home and at work. I'm in IT, and the end of the year is dreadful at work. Plus I never know what time I can arrive in the traffic. Anyhow, I suggested meeting on Friday (the best I could do). Unfortunately, that was absolutely not what she had in mind. *sigh* We've agreed to try for lunch on Wednesday.

Now - off to wrap presents...

Funny things for Mother's Day

I'm not a big fan of Mother's Day. My family generally regarded it (and Father's Day) with great suspicion and ignored it. After all, it's a holiday strictly made for commercial purposes - to sell cards and flowers. So when my family doesn't make a big deal out of it, I'm fine with that.

However, Moe get me some cut flowers from the grocery and this funny card. The inside read "At least that's how we remember it! - from Moe, your beloved son". He's pretty funny, that Moe.

Curly (who has been staying up the street in a neighbor's basement) showed up with chocolates and homemade cupcakes. The lady he's staying with told him he had to do something for me. He immediately asked for a cupcake and scarfed it down. Curly is on lithium, new for him. And it seems to be doing some good! He's not as moody and doesn't react to things so much out of proportion. I hope this continues. He's working this week at a job he hopes continues - he likes the work and the company likes him, and it would give him some freedom and better wages.

Funny runs in my family. The below images are some my sister J did for our mother. The top group (and you should click on the pics to see them well) is of all Mom's grandchildren surrounding a picture of her (pouting)as a child. The second one shows Mom and her children, many years ago. Sometimes I bitch about my mom, but mostly she's great.

There will be another grandchild next Mother's Day - my brother and his wife are expecting a baby in late October. This will be grandchild number ten from four children. No word on the gender yet.

For Mother's Day, as she does every day, Sophie did the Happy Dance on me while I was in bed. Sometimes I wonder if it truly is the Happy Dance. She actively uses her claws in her joy, and it's Not Happy for me. I'm beginning to think she is just tenderizing me for later consumption - you know, like you might pierce a tough piece of meat. Hmm.

Vader did nothing for me on Mother's Day, except be cute in his badness.

Easter and onward.

I hope you all had a happy Easter. Mine was good. Moe was confirmed at church and my mother visited oh so briefly. She came for the 11 am service, and was gone by 2:30 pm. Which was ok with me, as I got to take a nap afterwards.

I've been tatting, this from today's lunch. I was eating the remnents of my Easter meal - some ham and sweet potatoes, along with fresh corn. Yum. I'm starting round 4 of the Daffodil doily. It wants blocking badly. But it will be a pretty little thing when it's done!

Mom brought me a funny thing - sugar free Peeps! Who knew such a thing existed? I'm not tempted to open them, as I think peeps are nasty tasting. The Stooges all received some yellow Peeps in their Easter loot, for them to either eat or torture. Some of both will happen, I'm sure. I know Moe has already stuffed one into his mouth. Yuck! Larry is going the torture route, I'm sure.



How was your weekend?

A bit of news

Let me start out by saying that the Palmetto Tatters Guild has posted the teachers for Tat Days 2011. And this year, I'm one of them.

Yup, they liked several of the patterns I submitted. I'm tickled pink. So tickled that I've been clicking on the PTG site several times a day to see if they had posted the teachers' names yet. Because I Want To Be Famous. (Or sumpin' like that.) Post, dammit! Post! I'm Somebody Now!



(The very nice ladies at the PTG are actually VERY prompt. Ridiculously prompt, in fact. The reason for impatience are mine alone.)

Tat Days 2011 - Tatting in a Winter WonderLand

I'm sad that my buddy Jane Eborall is not teaching this year - her schedule did not permit it. And Stratford Upon Avon is not exactly a hop, skip and a jump from Toccoa, GA, where the conference will be. As for me, I will merely hop in my car and motor on up in a jiffy. We will miss Jane. Come back, Jane!

But if you want to see MEMEMEME! in September, come to Tat Days 2011 and take one of my classes. (I'm teaching four.) Or don't take my class, and just come anyway! I promise, you'll have a lot of fun!

In other news, Curly is home sick and miserable and blames me for his misery, since he is living in a tent the back of our yard. I had to remind him that it was not MY behavior that landed him there, it was his own bad choices. And then I handed him some medicine and locked the door behind him.

Moe is being confirmed at church on Sunday, Easter, and my mother is breezing through for the event. Of course, she is staying with my sister across town. I think the earth would crack and swallow up Hotlanta before she would spend the night with us. C'est la vie. It's nice she could come, at least for an hour or two. And now I have to shop for Easter clothes for me and Moe!

I'm on round 3 of the Daffodil doily, and I would be a lot further along, but in round two, I made a big mistake. And did I cut it out? Noooooo - I carefully picked out 5 rings and 5 chains. My fingernails are worse off for it, let me tell you. But I did NOT cut my thread.

And now I'm made another mistake at the start of round 3 and will have to pick out the first chain and ring, and part of the last chain of round 2. (I climbed out rather than cutting the thread - wouldn't you?) Arrgh. But boy, I love this Spring Garden thread - so pretty!

Joy in the post

I came home from work and did the happy dance. Why? This is why!

The postman brought me a package - my ChocoLove winnings from the lovely IsDihara! Even Cisco is drooling at my loot!

See what I got? Orange Peel Dark Chocolate, a chocolate themed journal, AND CocoLime HDT, dyed by Miss Tatskool. This of course feeds my HDT addiction, which is almost as bad as my addiction to chocolate. And what shall I do with think journal? Me thinks I should use it for drawing up tatting patterns. Score!

Thank you so much, IsDihara. You are a generous lady!

Cisco remained on my desk, staying true as a card carrying member of both FAPUC and FAPR. Don't know what those organizations are? Why, Felines Against People Using Computers and Felines Against People Reading, of course. He stands in front of my keyboard and computer screen so that I will pet him rather than work online. I don't know where he keeps the cards for the organizations, but he obviously puts them somewhere.

Today Moe came with me to work. (Winter break - don't ask.)  I took him to the metro station and got him on the train line to visit my mother who's staying across town for the winter. Don't worry, I didn't make Moe change trains without me. He spent the day hanging out with Mom, going to the farmer's market, doing a movie, and visiting with her cat Honey. After that, he was put back on the train & I picked him up on the other end of the line. It was good for Moe to ride the train alone - he's 14 and ready for a bit of independence. He had a good time!

It's warming up here is Hotlanta. The daffodils are starting to bloom in front of my company's headquarters. There should be a ton of them opening up this weekend - gorgeous!

Royal Fail goes west

After our friend Lady Shuttle Maker had her darling baby Picadilly, I was looking forward to see when she would get some of her production back and running. Why? Because for the longest time, I've wanted one of her terrific hook pens. I've bent a ton of crochet hooks hauling around my junk in my purse, and a hook pen would be just prefect. So, I ordered a hook pin for me.

I ordered this one, a size 14. Pretty. And some HDT too, some Kopper Patina, in size 20. Then I sat and waited for delivery. After a bit, my order came.

Yes, my order came, but not in any shape you might expect this to come in. (Yes, I deleted the address from the picture.) Sherry had clearly marked the letter Non Machinable. And the smart people at the US Postal Service had clearly ignored the warning! The letter arrived all wrinkled and with that big rip at bottom - you could see the HDT out of the hole before the envelope was opened.

Ew. A big rip.

After reading Jane's stories about mail in the UK, I'm wondering if some of the Royal Fail folks decided to swap jobs with our US Postal workers. Or maybe emigrate? This mailing issue was not the fault of dear Lady Shuttle Maker - she did her part. My HDT is fine. And fortunately, while my hook pin arrived open and with the hook bent, I was able to bend things back into shape and it works fine. Whew!

But what the heck happened at the Post Oriface? Are they just a bunch of doofuses who can't read? Jeez!

In other news, Curly is doing a bit better. He still has no job, but he has now been to both his therapist and his psychiatrist, and he got new prescriptions, which he promptly took. So far, so good.

The van carcass is gone. We've had a mini-van in our house since 1989, so this is a big change for us. No mom-mobile any more. Oh well, life changes.

And tomorrow, my mom is coming over for the day. She's spending the winter in a condo on the other side of Hotlanta, so we have more opportunities to visit. Mom hasn't seen my new office yet, and I'm looking forward to showing it off. She encouraged me a lot in getting the room fixed up. Plus, she can see all the Stooges.

Hope your weekend is good!

My Mom, plus Curly has a good day

First, my mom.

I love my mother, but sometimes she is very weird. I've mentioned that she has hardly ever visited us. This is not true of my other siblings, particularly of my brother. Mom will drop everything to visit her one and only son. This is her right. My brother and and his wife and baby live outside of Boston with their two cats. (Mom has her own cat, Honey, who is sweet as her name.)

 (This is Honey, so cute)

Currently, my brother et al are in Europe visiting his friends and her family. (She is German.) And tomorrow Mom is putting Honey at the cat sitter and flying up to Boston. Why, you ask? Why, to cat sit my brother's cats for a week.

I am not making this up. I wish I were. Mom won't come to see us, but she'll put her own cat out and babysit their cats.  So by extension, his cats are more important than my family.

*sigh*

Moving on....

Today I went to Ikea and scored some cheap bowls, plates, and glasses. One of the boxes fell on the floor, and someone got inside.

BTW, this little bad kitten loves to eat corn on the cob and thawed frozen peas. Really. Nom nom nom. He likes regular kitty food too.  He is a strange little kitten.

Now on to the big story.

My son Curly (my problem child) has been useless all summer, unemployed, grumpy and not showing any signs of making any forward progress. But he had a banner day yesterday.

First, DH took him down to take his driver’s license test, which Curly passed. (Curly is 18 and we hadn’t let him get his license before.) Of course, now he wants free access to our minivan, which ain’t happening until he comes up with the cash to pay the additional insurance costs. But Curly was jazzed about the license.

The second thing is bigger.

Our neighbor and longtime friend Bubba works for a cable company contractor. Bubba knows all about Curly and has helped me a lot with managing Curly, especially when DH was out of town. Bubba got his son G (a close buddy of Curly’s) a job at the cable contractor), and the two of them ride in Bubba’s company truck to work every day. Bubba was able to wrangle a job for Michael too! The job is – get this – digging ditches! It’s about all someone with no job skills can get these days. Curly went off to work with Bubba and G at 6:30  this morning, with work gloves, lunch, a hat and sunblock.  Bubba will make sure he behaves.

Last night Curly was so excited he could hardly sleep. I expect he will be asleep very early tonight.

The job is great because:

• It keeps Curly busy and out of trouble.
• He will be too exhausted to stay up late and cause trouble.
• He will earn some money – and pay rent to us.  (And yes, we will enforce this.)
• He may learn the true value of a dollar.
• He may save some money.
• He won’t be so bored and mope around.
• He may learn that skills (e.g. education) are of value. Maybe he’ll figure out what he wants to do.
• He won’t have time to harass his brothers and me so much!

The whole family is delighted about Curly's new job.  It’s all good!

Humpday

A few little things.

• Wednesday = humpday, the middle of the work week.  And I humped it today.  The software vendor for my latest project was on site, and we busted it trying to deploy software.

• Clematis planted outside my office.  Many of my neighbors have these on their mailboxes, in several colors.

• Purple petunias too.  I like petunias.  I like anything that blooms, especially if I don't have to do much.  I did not inherit my mother's fondness for gardening, so I have few flowers in my yard.  I wish I liked to garden.  Mom's a Master Gardener.  (When she was in the Master Gardener class, we all referred to it as Massah G.)  I don't like getting dirty, so I ain't no Massah G.

• Still crocheting to beat the band.  I'm digging this simple waffle weave dishcloth pattern.  My mother did not inherit the gene for doing hand work - it skipped over her and landed on me.

• Why is it that the same size skein of this cotton yarn, same brand, crocheted with the same hook and tension and the same pattern, finishes up in different sizes?  It's a mystery.
• The dog is now spayed.  No more puppies!  She's now itching at her incision, but recovering nicely.  She'll be a happier dog.  Moe is sad.  He wanted more puppies.  Not me!
• I think I'm getting another flair-up of shingles.  Ugh.  I don't get many lesions.  I get the deep, piercing muscle pain; my right shoulder is killing me.
• I crave sleep.  When it's almost morning, my dumb white kitty jumps on me and dances on my hip with her happy little needle claws of joy.  Why me?  Why not DH?  Also a mystery.
• School is out a week from Friday. HELP!

Tuesday

We had a ton of rain Sunday night.  It made today's drive in foggy.

I had an early meeting, so I got off extra early and didn't take the train.  I won't be taking the train this week - it will be way too slow.  There was a lightning strike on the train tracks on my side of town, so they are single-tracking the trains.  This causes big slowdowns, so no trains for me until the track is reapaired.

I had a brief talk with my mother yesterday while I drove home.  "Are you coming for Curly's graduation?" I asked.  "I wouldn't miss it!  I'll be staying with your sister," she responded.  I couldn't take it.  "We would like you to stay with us."  She lied and said, "You'll have so much going on, too much for company."  (My sister has active construction going on in the house they moved into 3 weeks ago with their 3 children.  Mom has seen the pictures of my painted guest room.)  I pointed out the she has never once come to stay with us in this house, a place we have lived for 10 years.  "But Crazy Mom, you're always too busy.  It's never been convenient for you."  Liar.  "Mom, you never let us know when you could come.  And I'm tired of the Stooges asking me why their grandmother comes to town and never visits them, why doesn't she love them?"  Long silence.  "Well, perhaps I should stay with you this time." "Good idea, Mom.  We'd love to see you."

I think I was pretty damn diplomatic.

I'm still making dish cloths. Sumpin' dumb to do while I watch The Big Bang Theory or Glee.  Mindless fun.