Much Improvement

Nikki is doing great.  Right now she feels safe in her brace so she is not fighting that and last night and today has gone to bathroom and walked (with help).  We are so thankful and feel so relieved.  Obviously there's still a lot more to deal with but we will take any small steps.

Bethany has been with her other grandparents most of the weekend so I am missing her.  Except for a little shopping we haven't had much time to do anything fun.  Hopefully we can before she goes home.

If you have seen many pictures of Sophie she usually has Pooh Bear in her arms.  She loves her Pooh - so Amy knew she had to try and take her to see the Winnie the Pooh movie yesterday.  This was her first movie and she did great.  I helped that it was just an hour long, but I think she could have even lasted a little longer.  It was a cute, old-fashioned movie.

As you can see - Pooh went with us!

Tough Week

My sweet little 4 year old granddaughter is going through something no little girl should have to go through.  Since birth she has battled scoliosis and we've all hoped and prayed that surgery wouldn't have to happen for years, but it came to a point where the doctors said it had to be now. The curve in her spine had progressed to a point where it was beginning to cause other problems.On Wednesday she had surgery to place rods alongside her spine and straighten it.  It was an early morning for everyone and a nail-biting nervous wait for all of us, but she came through the 4.5 hr. surgery fine. The pediatric orthopedic surgeon was wonderful and he said the surgery went just as it should - no unforeseen problems. 

After they moved her to the PICU unit we got to go in 2 at a time to see her.  She had come out of the anesthesia fine, and before they sedated her again she was in pain and a little agitated and kept saying, "Mama, I don't want this".  It was soooo hard to see a little one in this situation who doesn't understand what's going on.  Heart breaking.  In a little while they got her sedated and calmed down.

This was day one after they got her pain regulated and she went to sleep.

We left late that afternoon to come home and brought Bethany with us so that my son and DIL could stay at the hospital as much as needed and not have to worry about her.  Since then we have been in contact by email and phone, but really wish I could be there too. 

She was kept sedated until today.  Yesterday they measured her for her brace and today Jon said they put the brace on and stood her up.  They have taken out some of the tubes and possibly will move her to a regular room as soon as they have one.  She has such a long journey ahead of her.  Please pray for her and for Jon & Janet for patience and guidance.  She is a headstrong little thing and isn't going to like that brace, but she has to wear it for awhile.  I know this is all for the best - but will be so glad when it is behind her and she is comfortable and pain free again.

We hope to see her like this again soon.

Catching up.......

My life seems busy - but not interesting enough to write about anymore!  It seems like I just go to work, come home, go to work, etc.  If you work I'm sure you can relate.

Summer is definitely here - it has been very hot and dry which means lots of watering.  The flowers are doing well right now though.  If you remember a few weeks ago when I first planted things looked like this:

And now they look like this:

So I guess the watering is worth it.  By August I'll be really tired of dragging that hose around though.

Also in bloom right now are the daylillies and the butterfly bush.

I'm still plugging away on the socks, but they are generally my take-along project so they are going slowly.

 I've started the Cladonia Shawl by Kirsten Kapur and am liking it so far.  There will be lace, but the body is a simple pattern easy to memorize.  I like a little lace, but not too crazy about a big lace project where I have to read a pattern on every row. The yarn is Denali, a hand dyed sock yarn by Pagewood Farm.  The color is Fruit Freeze,

And on a totally different note, this little guy is my companion tonight.  My neighbors left on vacation today and I am pet sitting.  I haven't had a dog in years so this should be interesting.  He will stay in his own home during the day while I'm at work, but I hated for him to be alone so much so he will be visiting here with us some too. 

Ses@me Street Live

Happy Memorial Day!  Can't believe it has been so long since I have posted!  Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.

Friday night DH & I went to a movie!  First time in forever.  We tend to always go to his pick, so we saw Pirates of the Caribbean.  Pretty good I guess if that is your type of movie.  On the way out I heard lots of laughter coming from the Bridesmaids theater and wished I had been in there! LOL

Saturday Amy & I realized the Ses@me Street Live was playing in Greensboro and she got tickets for us to go.  Sophie absolutely loved it and I'm so glad we were able to take her.

When Big Bird walked out on stage she was so excited!  She didn't have any idea what to expect and it was so cute!

Of course Elmo is actually her favorite so every time he came on stage she loved it. Some of the characters walked through the audience and Zoe shook her hand, but I missed getting a picture of that.

A few weeks ago my other granddaughters came to visit and I just realized I didn't post any pictures. Sophie and Nicki have a few jealousy issues, but after a little adjustment period they love to play together.

School will be out for them soon and I'm anxious for Nikki and Bethany to come down and stay for a few days.  Nikki is facing surgery for scoliosis in July and she is going to have to go through so much I want to get her for a few days before she has to face that.  No pictures of  Bethany this time - she avoids the camera!

On the needles - two at a time, toe up socks:

 Have a great week!

Easter Weekend

Saturday started off gray and cool, but the rest of the 3-day weekend (I had Easter Monday off) was beautiful - and actually hot! We have been so lucky and missed the worst of the storms that a lot of the country is experiencing.

Saturday afternoon Sophie dyed her first eggs.  She took it very seriously!

Sunday was beautiful all day.  Sophie loved her dress, but getting her to smile is almost impossible. Little stinker is so serious till the camera disappears and then shes all grins and giggles again.

Monday DH and I worked outside most all day planting flowers, and vegetables.  Right now everything looks small and pitiful, but I took pictures to compare to later when everything is lush and beautiful (yeah, right!) Some years things do look pretty later and some years I'm really disappointed, but we'll see how this year goes.

The two hanging baskets for the front porch -

So I won't forget later, these are three of the flowers in these pots, along with coleus and regular impatiens.

This container goes on the front walk and also has coleus (which didn't have a label).

An old wheelbarrow filled with impatiens.  I did this several years ago but haven't the last couple of years because by July I'll be sick of dragging the hose out there to water it every day!

Just because I love lavender!  I just added this into a bed in the back yard.

Some of my herbs.  Thyme, basil and oregano.  I have another pot that I failed to get a picture of with rosemary and more thyme and oregano.

I filled in a little bare spot with these perennials.  The pinks say they are deer resistant.  We'll see. The deer have nightly buffets in our yard - they actually pulled whole pansy plants out by the roots.

And finally - tomatoes and squash.  We only have a small garden spot, but at least plant our favorites.

There you have it - my online journal of my pitiful gardening attempts.  Hopefully later in the summer I'll have progress to show!

Bolero Finished

 I knitted this from some yarn in my stash, Cascade Pima Tencel.  I had knitted me a summer sweater in it a couple of years ago and wasn't really happy with it as it stretches as you wear it, but it does have wonderful feel and I hope will do okay in this.

 Miss Sophie has gotten too busy to stand or sit still for a photo most of the time, but I did get one of her going shopping with Pooh wearing her new sweater.  She is very big into pretending now.  We go shopping, cook, march in a parade, and have parties all the time. 

My lilac bushes are in bloom!  Love the smell!  Spring is definitely here - thunderstorms almost every day, one day hot, one day cold, dogwoods and azaleas are blooming.  Really beautiful when the sun shines, but not such a fan of the cold, blustery days.  Of course we'll soon be complaining about the heat!

Back in January for my birthday my daughter and husband together gave me a gift certificate for a spa day - facial, massage, manicure and pedicure.  This isn't something I do for myself, so I was really looking forward to it.  A couple of weeks ago I finally made an appointment for yesterday.  The owner of the shop made the appointment on the phone and we specifically talked about finding a day that I could come in and have it all done at once.  I showed up yesterday at 10:15 for my appointment (this is a new salon for me, I go somewhere else for my hair).  No one was at the desk and not one stylist even looked up at me to ask if they could help me, which started out wrong for me.  Several other women were waiting so I took a seat.  After waiting at least 15  minutes finally someone came up front from the back.  I approached her and she said yes, she had me for a massage at 11:00, but checked the appt. book and I was scheduled for a facial at 10:15, but the right person wasn't there yet.  She finally came in - was very apologetic and I finally got started about 10:45,  I was irritated, but have to admit the facial was wonderful.  The room was perfect - the darkness, the candles, the music and no talk, which I like.  I have gotten massages where the massage therapist talks the whole time and that ruins it for me.  I have never had a facial so have no comparison, but I thought this was great.  It would be great to have one regularly.  Right after the facial I stayed on the same table and the masseuse started the massage.  Again, very professional, very quiet, and very relaxing, but not quite as intense as I like it.  I like someone to really get into the muscles, but I did enjoy it.

After the massage she told me that apparently the owner had failed to schedule my manicure and pedicure and they couldn't fit me in!  So much for all the talk about having it all in one trip.  They had to make me another appointment for that.  We'll see how this goes.  I had worried about how to leave tips, but the experience solved that problem.  No one got a tip from me!  I think I'll call T@bitha and suggest a salon makeover!

Anybody Need a Bandaid?

My mother was a "be prepared" person.  She bought all the birthday cards she would need months ahead, sat down the first of the month and got them all ready to mail.  Also, she was never out of stamps, so unlike me the cards didn't get there two weeks days late!  I rarely ever remember her running out of anything.  She always had two gallons of milk, an extra carton of eggs, two or three (or more) tubs of margarine, and plenty of detergent and spot removers. The extra refrigerator in the garage was always full of frozen orange juice, extra frozen bacon and soft drinks.   She kept her house clean and straight almost all of the time, because you never knew when someone might drop in.   In my defense she didn't work outside of the home so this was a little easier for her than most of us, but she was also a very hard worker and just happened to like to be prepared.  I've learned later in life though that a lot of this was obsessive compulsiveness.

After my dad died, Mama went to an assisted living facility, where she lived for five years. She had a small apartment with a tiny kitchen area, and she took great pride in cleaning her own room (even though she didn't have to) and doing her own laundry.  Her favorite thing was going shopping.  My sister and I both lived out of town, but we always took her out to eat when we went to visit and she always had a list ready for Walmart. The facility also took them shopping once a week or so and my aunt was also great to take her out when she could.  Since she seemed capable, the staff let her get whatever she wanted.  Since my sister and I weren't there all the time, we didn't realize how much she was buying either, but my aunt clued us in that she was buying the same things every time she took her.  She started checking her storage places before they went out and telling my mom that she didn't need some of the things she had on her list.  This made Mama so mad!

As her dementia got worse and her health deteriorated, we had to bring her closer to me and into a nursing home.  When we moved her out of  assisted living, we were amazed at her stash.  All of our family was supplied with Q-Tips, toothpaste, lint rollers, hand lotion, fabric softener sheets, and most of all band aids!  Heaven forbid that anyone need a bandage and not have one!  That was 2005.  This weekend I cleaned out our medicine stash both upstairs and down and the above pictures are what is left of my share of her collection  6 years after we moved her!  I am not and never will be prepared like my mom was - but if you have a cut or scratch, I'm your girl!

There was a big consignment sale this weekend and we found this little house!  Even though it is a little faded, Sophie loves it!  Sadly, our sunny weather was nowhere to be seen this weekend so it was too cold to be out long, but we had to try it out.  She would have stayed out forever, but the rest of us were too wimpy for the wet and cold weather.