December 23, 2011

What to do, what to do.

Having a bit of a difficult time getting in the Christmas Spirit. Missing Mom so much. Have not gotten one thing out to decorate the house. Don't know how to decorate this year. Every year Mom planned it all out and I did all the work. Right now all I have is a vase of Christmas Greens and a huge red poinsettia like the ones in the photo. I'll figure it out, but for now, I miss Mom's plan.

Decided what to bake and what to bring for dinner on Christmas Eve. Shopping is done. Last of the cards and packages to mail will be done today.

No photography has been done is such a long time. Next weekend it is going to be a girl's get together at the Rockefeller Greenhouse and Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Both places have their Christmas shows, so I plan to blow off the dust off the cameras and myself. I'll post photos here.

Anyway, time to start. Errands to do, post office, butcher, Christmas Tree lots, maybe some evergreen roping for the picture window, JoAnn Fabrics and of course the grocery store.

Have a great day;
Joanne


EDIT: After going to 4 tree lots, I cannot drop $40.00 on a 5 foot tree, so I am going to use the 4 foot multi colored lights fake tree and use the fragrance, Thymes Fraser Fir Reed Diffuser Refill. I am amazed at how much this smells like the tree. I bought mine at the Orvis store. Looks like one can also buy it thru Amazon.The evergreen roping was all dried looking, also not worth the money.


EDIT AGAIN:


Went to my local LOWES and got a real Fraser Fir Tree (5ft for$29.00), a 24" Fraser Fir Wreath with Pine Cones and a 36" evergreen mantle piece. Also got a trunk load of free branches of Fraser Fir and Scotch Pine. I use them to cover my lavender bushes and to make some covering around the bird feeders. I may use the mantle piece on the cocktail table and put my little village around it.


Stay tuned, pictures to follow!

Rain

It seems like it has rained for 30 days.... No yardwork can really be done. Afraid to plant bulbs, as they may drown. It's just ugly here, plain old ugly. Had some sun yesterday, just enough for me to blow the leaves off the front lawn. Tried walking in the backyard towards the shed. Shoe just stuck in the mud. Turned around and came back in. Forecast for this week is rain every day. Ugh!

It's been a very long time ...

... but sometimes life gets too busy to sit down and blog. Work is beyond busy and I come home too tired. It is enough right now to keep the house clean, the laundry done and the grass cut. This year that garden has some very beautiful patches of weeds. Ugh!, but it is coming to that time when everything will get pulled and the perennials cut back. I am going to put down an extremely heavy coat of PREEN to help with fewer weeds.

No stitching has been done, no quilts have been cut out, but the Babylock sewing machine is up and having tension issues, so it will be off the the repair shop for her. Lucky for me, I still have the featherweight to use to finish finish ornaments I have stitched over the years.

One a personal note, it is 10 years today that my Dad passed. Miss him every day. Think abut him and Mom everyday. They were separated in death by 9 years, so at least this year they are together, continuing their love they had for 51.5 years of marriage. This photo was at her sister's weeding and they had just gotten engaged.

Friday morning, bright and early I was wheeled into a surgical suite and Dr Nida erased years of pain by straightening my hammertoes. Little did I know that the numbing medicine would hurt so much. See, I chose to be awake during the procedure and just have the left foot numbed. I am not a fan of anesthesia. Never have been, never will. I was out the hospital door and in my car in under 1 and a half hours. Drove home, slept for a couple of hours and was woken up by the numbing medicine wearing off. O.M.G.!! what excruciating pain! Got up, downed 3 advils and grabbed a bag of frozen peas, hobbled over to the couch, plopped down, threw the leg over the arm rest, tossed on the bag of peas and tried to take my mind off of the pain.

Saturday the pain was so bad, it interfered with my thought process. Again, advil to the rescue. (Yes, she prescribed Vicodin, but I do not like how I feel on the pain meds). The dressing got to come off after 24 hours and I did not know there were more shades of black, blue, red and purple than the DMC Color Card.

Today, I acted like an adult and did not go to the race track to do photography. It rained very bad during the night and me hobbling around in muck did not seem like a prudent thing to do. I do not want to risk infection. So today I read a bunch of cross stitch blogs and window shopped at various OLNS. Keyword: WINDOW shopped.

Tomorrow, I have a few things to read for work and I may pull some threads for a couple of stitching projects.

As always, I wish you a good week;
Joanne


Since the foot looks gross, I'll not share a photo. :-)

Father's Day 2011

It will be 10 years this September that Dad passed away.


Copy and paste this if your Dad is in heaven. If roses grow in heaven Lord, then pick a bunch for me. Place them in my Dad's arms and tell him they're from me. Tell him that I love and miss him, and when he turns to smile, place a kiss upon his cheek and hold him for awhile. I miss you everyday...

 Dad and Lucky

The NAVY Garden I planted for Dad

Miss you, Dad

Your loving daughter;

Joanne

Thoughts on a June night.

With all the rain, my garden looks horrid. Spent the better part of 4 hours this past Sunday and only got half of it done. The veggies are in. That's it. Thank goodness I grow perennials otherwise there would be no flowers. There is still a ton a weeding to be done, but when I get home at night, the bugs are already out. In one 10 minute foray outside I got 12 bug bites! ugh! Not a fan of OFF or skin so soft, cannot stand the slimy feeling.

I plan on working outside again come Saturday before I go to my great niece's first birthday party. Should be fun.

Sunday, I am going to my first race of the season. Wonder if I can still shoot cars. Been doing so much flower photography, I hope I can still do my magic with cars. I'll start getting all the camera gear ready Friday, all the cleaning and dusting. (Wonder where I put that can of air....hmmm).

There has been no sewing or stitching but ALOT of reading on the kindle that is on the Droid X.

So that is it for my corner of the world.
Joanne

Flowers photos from yesterday

After going to the big box stores and not seeing anything nice, I went to my favorite local greenhouse. There I found everything and then some. Lucky for me all my birthday presents were for this greenhouse. I had such a good time!

 Bleeding Hearts

 Fuschia

 Single Peony

 Viola

 Johnny Jump Up

After I cam home and drank the Starbuck's Tazo Black Tea Ice Tea, I took a few photos at home.

 Scented Geranium

 Beauty of Moscow Lilac

 Bue Skies Lilac

 Lily of the Valley

Needless to say, my house smells so wonderful due to all these flowers I cut.

Have a great day;

Joanne

Scissor Porn

Have a great evening;

Joanne

Easter

Good Morning and Happy Easter. All the Lamb cakes are baked and decorated. Cupcakes are made. For myself I made a lemon pound cake.

These are the ornaments on my Easter Tree (forgot to get a photo, I'll update later)

The Lily plant on my table.

 The Daffodils in my yard.

Wishing you and yours and very Blessed Easter;

Joanne

Easter lamb cakes and ....

missing Mom. We always made these together and this is the first year I have to do it alone. Makes me miss her so much. It these little things that makes me both happy and sad. Happy that she took the time to instill traditions in me and sad knowing that she is not here.

So to my Mom in heaven, these are for you.

Love you, miss you.

Almost a month....

since I last took the time to write.

In that time, the entire inside of the house has been painted. 1 room will have to be redone as the color is toooooooo creamy, needs to be more white. This same room has some of the paint "orange peeling". I have to wait at least until after Memorial Day before I can paint it again. Kinda makes me in a bad mood, that this orange peeling happened. The color on the wall was from the previous owner, so I have no idea what kind of paint they used, but that is the reason my expensive Behr with primer did not work.

Stitching wise, well, there has been none. Right now everything in on the screen porch waiting to be put back into the new room. I am keeping the room as a guest room, but the man's dresser is going to hold all my stitchy stuff. The women's triple dresser is going to hold all my sewing stuff. Gone are the bags, boxes and plastic crates. That is my goal for this week, to put all the crafty stuff away and to make a couple of valances. One for the kitchen and the Laura Ashley bathroom (pattern: Palace garden). The half bath is in shades of lavender and will have a French Country feel.

Yesterday was my birthday, the first without Mom. Difficult day. Spent some time at her favorite local garden center. Felt her presence there. Had a serious debate about getting a gardenia standard, but decided against it for now. Weather is too weird to bring such an expensive plant home. My family was too sweet when they all got me gift cards to my favorite garden center. Makes me more anxious for the season to begin. Only a few weeks away. Went to Borders yesterday and bought myself a new garden journal. Cannot wait to fill the pages with info and photos.

That's about it for now. Happy Monday. Have a great week.

Joanne

Sunday Night

Oh my, it feels so good to sit down! For the past 3 days I have been talking the house apart getting it ready for the painter on Tuesday. Well, she was suppose to be here Tuesday, but we may have a change in plans. Seems she cannot give me a firm time and now a firm day, so it looks like I will have to learn how to paint. Eek! I have been an apartment dweller so all painting has always been done by maintenance. Called Home Depot and they can give me a dummy lesson and some leaflets. My ENTIRE house is ripped apart. ARGH! (taking a long deep soothing breath). The only room that has not been ripped to shreds is here in the computer room. I was going to do that today but ran out of time and energy, well, mainly energy. The mountain of laundry is now a large hill of ironing with a bunch of throws and dog bedding.

I think this is one time when I bit off more than I can chew. How I just want to sit and stitch.

Please say a few prayers for me as I start the painting endeavor.

Have a great week.
Joanne

Laissez les bons temps rouler!!

Happy Fat Tuesday Eve!

Made this for lunch tomorrow at work

Shrimp Creole 

(4 pounds of shrimp in a HUGE stock pot).

I had to sample it to make sure it was OK. .... That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Joanne

Another month, another post

February saw me relearning how to live by myself. Seems so weird to be Mom-less. There are so many things to go thru, boxes to pack and store in the attic. I have hired the painter to completely paint the inside of the house. I dislike painting.. ALOT.  I finally chose the colors. 2 shades of white, so I can change my mind on drapes and such when the mood strikes.

The blog photo is the first piece I stitched after a 5 year break. Looking at it makes me want to stitch, but for right now there are too many things to do. I am trying, however, to organize my stash, make it neater and easier to find things.

That's about it for now
Joanne

It's that time of the year.

The daffodils are coming up here in NE Ohio and I just watched the Duals at Daytona. Means one thing...... 3 months until my racing photography season begins. The torn muscle in my calf is healed. The cameras have had the shutters fixed and I am antsy to get in a corner and do some work.

Sunday is the Daytona 500....

Have a great day;
Joanne

Mom

Graduation June 1948

 Wedding Day June 1950

At the Apple Farm September 2010

While I was driving on the Ohio Turnpike and my brother was pulling into the hospital parking lot, Mom passed away at 6:05 pm.

She is now with my Dad and they are dancing the night away.

Thanks for being a great parent. Thank you for everything. 

I Love you, Mom! 

Your daughter;

Joanne

Mom Update

She is still holding her own, still in multi system organ failure. It is between her and God now. It has taken me a while, but I understand now that I cannot fix this, I cannot make it go away and I can no longer beat myself up about this. Once I accepted Mom's diagnosis, I am almost back to myself. I can once again totally concentrate at work. I can sit down and read and remember what I have read. After posting this, I am going to go sit in the chair and try to stitch again. I miss stitching... alot.

Wish me luck;
Joanne

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Joanne