Texas Lady

I don’t have any new photos because life has been hectic since I started feeling better.  I had so much to catch up on to add to the new sewing room redecorating.

Gypsy had to be at the vet at 7:30 this morning so they could sedate her to clean her teeth.  I ran errands and worked in my sewing room until time to pick her up and take Mimi in so she could get her yearly vaccinations.  All is well and taken care of and Gypsy vaccinated, too.  New appointments made for next week for Jolie’s dental cleaning and 3 more dogs need vaccinations.  Never ending process around here sometimes.

I did go to Staples this morning and got my Evolution threading training materials copied and laminated as suggested by my dealer.  While I was there I bought a chair for my sewing room and Ronnie put it together for me tonight.  (I love my husband!)  Finally today, 10 days after I ordered the new cutting table they sent me the shipping notice.  This after I’ve sent them 3 emails over the past 4 or 5 days.  Now it’s due to be delivered on Monday.  I bought from someone who was $30 cheaper instead of the ones I bought from last time.  Guess I’ve learned a lesson now…..money isn’t the whole thing.

Tomorrow I have a doctor’s follow-up visit and have more errands to run.  I started 4 more blankets today (a gift for a friend) so I hope to get some of the embroidery done on them tomorrow, too.  I’d like to get them in the mail by Friday.  I’ll try to get some new photos in the sewing room.  It looks so different but more professional, I think.  I’m going to like it so much better than the former room.  Now that I have this new bigger sewing/embroidery/quilting machine the old furniture just didn’t work anymore.  I’m ending up with less clutter and better organization, too.  I really like being able to have everything within reach.  It started out that way last time but the more I bought the more cluttered it got and the harder it was to organize.  This is going to be so much better and less stressful……….works for me.

There is nothing in it yet but it’s out of the box and constructed.  We went out to dinner (was craving a Margarita) and

didn’t even start putting it together until about 10 P.M..  Finished about 1 A.M. and dragged all the packaging to the garage; that’s as far as we got before we caved.  It’s 3:30 A.M. now and I’m preparing for bed (Ronnie and the dogs are already unconscious).

I think my cold is slightly better today.  Still gripy and sedentary with no motivation but the house is about to fall in around me so I’ve got to make an effort tomorrow to do some big time cleaning.  Ronnie worked on the fence and cut grass in the back yard today, and when Ronnie is in the yard so are the dogs.  Big dogs (with big feet) can track in crap faster than my vacuum will pick it up!  Disgusting!  I had to put socks on my feet so I wouldn’t feel the grit.  I am too tired to vacuum tonight even if it’s yucky.  Today was the first time I’ve even been out of my nightgown in a couple of days.  I hate being sick and/or unproductive but my OCD is calling me loudly, so it’s just going to have to be done.

When you retire, what the hell good is TGIF?  I see everyone on Facebook posting about TGIF stuff (and it’s cute stuff normally) and feel like I’ve lost that reason for a weekday lift.  Now every day is Friday or Saturday or Sunday, or whatever I want it to be.  Kind of depressing until I realize that I AM IN CONTROL.  Cool!  TGIF, everybody!  I think I’ll have another one on Monday or Wednesday.  LOLLLLLLLL

My new armoire has arrived, delivered one day late and still in the box.  Ronnie was so exhausted when he got home last night he didn’t even want to open the box, and since I now have his cold I didn’t care either.  He is supposed to have the entire weekend off so good things are likely to happen in my sewing room.  Can’t wait!!!!!!!!  I’d like to actually get in there and be able to sew.  I have so many projects planned and have ordered some new supplies so I can do free motion quilting (FMQ) which is done on a sewing machine.  I’ve decided to quilt the monkey quilt that way but I have to learn it first.  I’ve watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to do it and it suggests learning on test quilt blocks.  Since I don’t really have a cutting table until the new one arrives, my hands are tied right now.  If it lasts much longer I’ll find myself sitting in the floor (OMG with 7 dogs!) cutting out fabric.  I used to do that when I was a child but my back and hips and knees were much younger then and it was simple to get up and down.  Now I have to get on the floor every day in order to do Jolie’s breathing treatment in her crate, so I remember how.  It just takes more time and effort (and sometimes a few grunts and groans or a yelp or two).

I have ordered the cutting table but haven’t heard a word about when it’s due.  There’s no way to track it on their website so I guess I’ll resort to emailing them…..dammit!

Today I moved the small table to the other side of the room to take advantage of the space immediately in front of the bookcases that won’t be utilized for anything else.  I set up the Babylock Ellisimo Gold (hereafter EG) on the big table, reorganized some container contents and did a general cleanup.  My new furnishings are due to begin arriving Wednesday (armoire) so change is not likely for a bit.  Once the storage cabinet arrives (and constructed) I hope to do away with some more containers; I already emptied two today (a lot of junk went into the trash; some things got rearranged/redistributed).  I’m looking forward to having storage in my sewing room, full-sized drawers and doors that will help organize and hide the clutter.  It’s hard to look neat when everything is packed into crates.  And I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a neatness nut.  LOL

No, not robbery thankfully.  I just passed down my sewing furniture (so many in my family sew) and ordered another big table and a storage armoire for myself.  My new Babylock is way too big for the old sewing table I’d had for three years.  I’ve been shopping online for a new one but couldn’t find anything (in my price range anyway) that would work for my room size and machine size…..soooooo it was time to make some more changes.  It’ll be a week or more before the new stuff gets here so more than likely I won’t be doing a lot of sewing during that time.  If I need something though I can rearrange things temporarily and still manage.

I seem to have a scratchy throat tonight and didn’t sleep well last night, which resulted in a low energy level most of the day.  We had some company a couple of times and I did a little cleaning but really didn’t accomplish much at all.  Ronnie was the same way so it wasn’t just me.  Weird.  We’re getting ready to hit the hay and hopefully both of us will feel more chipper tomorrow.

I lived through them, obviously.  They did the right side on Monday and it’s already stopped hurting at all.  Left side was this morning so I’m still achy and tired, partly because of the anesthesia.  Hopefully I will sleep well tonight and feel like a new person tomorrow……there’s always hope.  I haven’t slept well all week and have had weird dreams; I think all of it was the stress of the procedures.  I know I’m a big girl now, but my subconscious doesn’t.

Since I’ve been in hospital mode all week I haven’t accomplished a whole lot except to lay around and complain (I did apologize though and explained why I was bitchy, which worked miracles to get me back in Ronnie’s good graces LOL).  I don’t expect to accomplish a whole lot tomorrow either but I’ve been fooled before.  Usually after a couple of days the effects of the procedure really take hold and the pain just disappears like it was never there.  I can already turn my head either way without pain or stiffness.  Halleluia!  I had begun to exercise before this came up so I need to get back in that mode again for me and for the dogs.

Took my sleeping pill but it hasn’t hit yet so I thought I’d post a summary.  Got some sewing done today.  All the baby blankets are hemmed and ready to be embroidered.  The bibs are finished and I got the patterns I ordered to make some more baby things.  I used my label maker to label the parts of my serger so it’ll be easier to find what I need especially in classes.  Also, labeled (at my dealer’s suggestion)  any parts (cords, cables, attachments, foot pedals, etc.) of both new machines that could get accidentally left in a classroom so they’ll know who to contact to pick it up.  I am due free training classes on both new machines and they have classes on various things (sewing, quilting, embroidery, software, etc.) scheduled for 4 months in advance that I’d like to take part in.

Fancy and I took a walk around the corner to deliver a prescription refill to our former rehab dog.  It was beautiful out today and we both enjoyed the short trek.  I got my first 5 pound loss star at Weight Watchers last night so I’m back on the road to success there and am trying to increase the amount of exercise I get.  As always with weight loss, it’s a work in progress but I do feel better about the outcome in my personal quest for health.

Got the bills paid, property taxes paid and finished the 2012 income taxes.  Now waiting for our refund so it’s all good.  I feel like I’ve tied up some loose ends this week so I’m more relaxed and focused now; sure hope I can hang on to this feeling because I have a lot I want to accomplish.  Next week I’m having the nerve endings in my cervical spine zapped with microwaves so my pain level will go down again for a few months which will make it easier to concentrate and not get distracted.  So it’s all good in the neighborhood right now.

Signing off for tonight……..

It’s been busy around here the past week or so.  Ronnie’s cousin passed away so that changed the way our schedule worked for a few days.  I did get some fabric shopping done, picked up a few more baby gift projects to do, and ordered some patterns because some of the bibs cost $10 and I still had to do my own embellishments.  I can make my own so much cheaper.  I have 6 bibs embroidered (3 girls, 3 boys), the doggy quilt done, the monkey quilt spray-basted and ready to quilt (can’t decide on which pattern to quilt on it), a new rose-colored quilt completed and 5 receiving blankets hemmed that just need the embroidery done.  Maybe tomorrow I can get some more sewing done; if I get the baby gifts done I can start sewing for myself.  I have fabric to make a couple pair of casual pants so that will be the next thing I’ll tackle.

Ronnie is putting up a new fence around the back yard.  The existing fence is 21 years old and is original to the house.  With big dogs it was time to shore up the existing fence or lose some dogs and gain some law suits if they did anyone damage before we could get them back home.  Not worth the chance.  With Maximus topping 80 pounds we had to have sufficient strength to hold him when he jumps up trying to get to “his squirrel”.  He just knows if he jumps high enough he’ll catch that damned thing.  (LOL)  When he stands on his hind legs he’s taller than Ronnie who is 6 feet.  Ronnie has most of the back completed and has only the left side to go as our former neighbors on the right already replaced the fence between us.  Won’t be long and it will look all spiffy again.

Still doing Weight Watchers but stopped losing and started gaining back, so it’s still a work in progress.  I have Jolie in her crate doing a nebulizer treatment so I’d better close for now…….