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Showing posts from August, 2006

The Stroke Victim Whisperer

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I am gaining quite a reputation for myself at my volunteer job at Hospice. The last three times I've worked, I've been assigned to three different survivors of massive strokes. All three times I was told that they either weren't able to talk or wouldn't talk/interact. All three times, they've spoken coherently and mindfully to me in the presence of someone else at least once each evening. It's just a fluke, but it is very strange. I laughed when I heard a nurse remark last night that they should send The Stroke Victim Whisperer in to a certain patient's room and see what she could do! I'll allow a movie of my life, but only if Robert Redford is in it!LOL ! Last night I was assigned to a sweet lady that had had a stroke and suffered from dementia. She reminded me very much of my own Poppy and Mr. Bee's grandmother who we cared for though her last years battling Alzheimer's Disease. It was an honor and very poignant for me to spend the evening wi

The Snake Hunter

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The coolest thing just happened! Mr. Bee and I went to the park in Belleville for a walk. It's a small penninsula that juts out into Belle View Lake and it has a nice walking path, a dam and a brook. One time when Mum and I were there, we saw a huge snake slither under a bridge that spans the river below the dam. I told Mr. Bee that if we saw a snake, to be forewarned....I would be screaming like a big old girl. So we walked down to the bridge and sure enough, there sunning itself was a huge snake. I pointed it out to Mr. Bee. This fell into the type of snake encounter where I saw it first so I didn't panic and run screaming. It was all coiled up in the grass. We were pointing and looking at it when a man came over and asked what it was. We told him just as it slithered into the water. The man said, "Don't worry, I'll get it!" and hopped in after it! Come to find out he is a local herpatologist from the university. He caught our snake, which was a three foot l

Good Bye Girlie Girl!

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I was not meant to be a girlie girl I guess. I have to have the artificial talons removed this afternoon. Fungus of the thumbus nailus! Gross! Who knew!!!??? Heavy sigh. Look Ya'll! Knitting Content ! I unknit far more than I knit last night. I was almost to the toe decrease of the second dreaded Ugly Stripe sock when I realized that waaaaaay back-just after the gusset decreases- I had purled one needle! I had one row of 'bumps'. I was so disgusted. What a rookie mistake. There must have been something on t.v., or with the furbabies, or something shiny, or brightly colored. I am distracted by a whole range of things. Or maybe I dozed off and continued to stitch which has happened before and Mr. Bee thinks this is hysterical until he has to listen to my ranting the next day as I rip it all out. Which is what happened. I've been chompin' at the bit to get these ugly suckers done and just when I see the light at the end of the tunnel...it turns out to be a train! I r

If You Haven't Seen It...

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Go see Talladega Nights. Will Farrell has no shame. It's a silly movie but seeing Will run around the track in his underwear thinking he was on fire; screaming and praying for Little Baby Jesus, Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey to save him was so funny, diet coke came out my nose. Treat your self to a laugh!

Fell Off The Hobby Diet Wagon...

But not too badly. I bought a skein of Thibetan recycled silk . I was sitting at the Sow's Ear, innocently talking to my friend, when I saw it waving to me over her shoulder. It beckoned. It teased. It taunted. I could barely concentrate on what my friend was saying. I had to buy it just to shut it up so I could visit! It is the most amazing stuff. It's individual fibers of silk of all different colors spun together into a thickish yarn. The overall color is a dark red but it has every other color of the rainbow in it as well. It's made out of prayer flags. No, I made that part up. It could be though and so I am instituting that fact into my reality. Poof! It's so. I bought enough to make a pair of fingerless gloves. They will look smashing with my dark grey winter coat. I will start on my 'Thibetan Prayer Flag Gloves' after I finally finish the striped 'God Awful Ugly Trek' socks. I'm to the heel flap on sock # 2. They are the ugliest thing

Harlo

Check out the left side of my blog and you will see my newest furbaby-a cyber llama named Harlo. Harlo likes to have his head petted and if you click on the more button and get some hay, hold it to his mouth and click your mouse he'll eat it. He's pretty tame and will follow your mouse around. The only thing he doesn't like it to be poked with the mouse. It makes him jumpy. Say hello to Harlo!!!!!

Photos

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This is the counted cross stitch I have been working on FOREVER . It'll be nice to hang in my room at the nursing home when I finally get it finished. I finally finished the loon wall hanging quilt top last night. I love it! See the two babies? And the dragonfly? Going great guns on my latest sock project. Still hate the ugly green stripe! As you can see, I've had a pretty productive time of it while Mr. Bee has been away but Wee Doggie says that it is too hot to work at the computer any more!

Quilting Fool

I headed down to my quilt studio early last night and came out wayyyyy too late! I worked all evening (actually half the night) on the McKenna Ryan Loon Quilt. I had all eighteen million little bits traced onto webbing, so I fused them all to fabrics and cut them all out. I got to the best part, fusing the whole thing together and realized that I had the background but didn't have the border fabrics and the lilly pads extend out into the border. Drat. I ran to Belleville at lunch time to my local quilt store and got the two pieces I needed so will work more on it tonight after Stitch and *itch. I'm actually glad I had to go because my favorite park was practically deserted and I walked along the river and dam/waterfall for a bit before coming back to work. I also saw several fire-engine red dragonflies. I've never seen any like them before. Their wings, right up next to their little dragonfly shoulder blades, were bright, bright , shiny crimson. I mentioned it to the crazy

Aww Rats!

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I've been down for the count for the last few days. I finally got it together enough to take a photo of my latest project and the dang camera gasped its last and ran out of batteries. I will charge 'em up and post one on Friday. Went to the Renaissance Fair in Briston WI on Saturday. What a day! We caravaned with friends. We took their six year old daughter, Princess E, with us. Mom, Dad and Prince R. were following us. On the inside on an hour we lost them. We were sure they must have broken down. We went back to look and couldn't find them. We were trying to delicately discuss the fact that we'd lost them and what we should do about it in a way that wouldn't upset Princess E. We didn't have to worry. As soon as she figured it out, she declared that we should go have fun anyway. So we did. We arrived at the Festival and found that they had taken a wrong turn and arrived ahead of us. Whew! Disaster averted. We spent the day wandering the fair. My highlights were

A Heat Wave-A Tropical Heat Wave

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It's been too hot to go into the computer room to update my blog for a few days. Of course this hot weather also corresponds to a few of my busiest days at work, so by the time get done I running around all day in the heat, I just wilt when I go home. Mostly Mr. Bee and I have been sitting on the sofa every evening; sticky, ambitionless lumps, reduced to watching reruns of bad documentaries on the back television channels. Sneakers the bunny has totally melted. Despite the central air which does its best to keep the house around 80°, she has dissolved into a sullen puddle of mush in the bottom of her cage. She hardly has the gumption to attack the hand that feeds her although the weather hasn't affected her grunting ability which she uses often. Sebastian the cat is basically living in the basement. He's found a cool nook with a comfy chair with a woobie. He's always been one cool dude. The only one remotely happy is the Wee Doggie who hasn't shivered once in the l