Cherish what you have

Cherish what you have, because you never know how long we have.

A friend from work had her mom in a local hospital for 2 or 3 weeks.  The Tuesday after Labor Day they had an appointment in IC for additional testing.  The additional testing found cancer.  Her mom passed away on Thursday morning.

Today was the visitation, tomorrow is the funeral.

For some reason the visitation really hit me hard.  I didn't know her mom, only Jay.  When I left the funeral home I could barely hold the tears in.

I realize that part of it is the hurt I feel for Jay, she had her mom and in the blink of an eye she was gone.  She and her mom had a difficult relationship as mom always complained that she was in pain.  Looking back I'm guessing that the pain was caused by the cancer - WTF were the doctors doing around here that no one found it.

That's another thing that's pissing me off.  In one week I've heard of three patients who were in local hospitals who had DNR paper work on file and the doctors didn't take the time to figure out what was wrong.  Two of the three ended up finding out they had terminal cancer when they went out of town to a bigger hospital.

Since when does DNR mean we aren't going to figure out what's wrong with you? Especially when you're going in because your in pain - not a life threatening condition.  I'm tempted to have my mom pull her paper work, if she has it on file anywhere.

Events like this always make me sit back and realize what I have.  How I need to take more time to let the people I care about know that I care about them.  They remind me of the times I was to tired to go see my Grandma and today I would give anything to go see her.

Remember to hug the loved ones you have close and call the ones far away.

Weekend update and pictures

So I ended up with crafting time this weekend ..... it did me good even if I ended up with another UFO in my pile.  :)

Saturday I made the pumpkin table runner I've been wanting to make for a few years ... most of it was done while I was listening to a football game, that really puts time into perspective for me.


It's just the top so I still need to bat, quilt and bind.  Quilting is not my favorite thing so I tend to delay that part.  My goal is to get it totally done so I can have it out this year....that means I have until Thanksgiving right.

Today I made a little mug rug using the leftover strips from the pumpkin table runner


This one is totally done .... yeah me!

These are the Mickey and Minnie ornaments I made


This is the quilt top that's been on my design wall for awhile


Now to figure out a project I can work on during the week.

On another note, my cousin who I've been doing a lot of crafting with sent me a text last night.  "My husband loves the Halloween tree we made.  He wants to know if we can make sports trees for our favorite college teams."  =)  Now to collect ideas for a sports tree.

Edited to add another mug rug I whipped up.  I was looking for a project and came across another table runner and the extra block.  I quickly made the extra block into a mug rug .... seriously 30 mins.

projects

so after my bored post I decided I needed to work on some of my projects that have been lingering.

As of tonight I've....
* make a candy garland project that I saw online.  I now have orange and black 'candy' hanging in the kitchen window.  And a short white string on the halloween tree my cousin and I made a few weeks back.
* made time to sew every few days and finished a quilt top that's been on my design wall since June or July.  Now that it's done and I've showed it to folks everyone loves it.  My cousin even said "are you sure you made it? It looks amazing!!".
* made some more mickey ornaments
* worked on some minnie ornaments - I still need to add the ears.
* made up 6 hours of work time ... only two more to go.
* printed project images or work sheets that have been in my "To Print" folder for too long.
* joined the local quilt guild



This weekend I need to do some things for family.  I really don't want to, I'd rather be home crafting!

I have a lot of quilt ideas/projects/lined up to start.  I'm thinking it's time to do the pumpkin table runner I've had hanging out for a few years.  There's also the quilt I want to do for a nephew, I saw an idea last night and I think I'm going to copy it.  A nice quilt top backed with fleece or minkie and then hand tied.  I have such trouble getting quilts quilted.

I'd also like to get some scrapping in.

Happy Weekend everyone!

.... I'm bored

Over the last few weeks I've been feeling, well bored. Especially in the evenings when my hubby is working or hanging out in his man cave.

 I feel the need to move, then I look at the clock and know if I exercise I won't sleep. When I go to sleep late it's so hard to get up in the mornings and I struggle through the day.

The feelings of boredom, tired of watching tv, not knowing what to do with myself.

 I have so many hobbies, there's not one I want to start and none seem to hold my interest.

 Life is crazy, I'm super busy at work and since there's no benefit to working overtime, I'm not putting in the extra effort.

Surprisingly, more often than not I find myself closing the computer, putting away the phone and not even picking up a book. I'm tired of losing myself online or in the fantasy of a book.

 I want to be here in real life, in the real world that we have created. I want to have that comfortable home and when it's picked up I'm bored.

What is up with that????

There's no one I feel comfortable talking to. How do I complain about being bored when most of my friends have kids and they are pulled in so many different directions everyday that they have very little time for them?

 Off to the bulletin board to see if there's something I can make tonight....

weekend thoughts ....

* weekends are to short

* lazy weekends are the best

* I'm happy to have the bedroom christmas decorations all packed up.

* cancer sucks!

* we need to make a living will. I keep reading the updates on my childhood best friend and can't believe everything he is going through. It sounds like he still has a positive attitude so that makes a huge difference for him.

* so not looking forward to Monday morning. Boyd works and I'm supposed to but know I have nothing on my plate for the first two hours.....

* playing ball with the dogs, in the snow while wearing flip flops makes for cold toes. I did try standing in the door way but then kept hitting the garage when flinging.

* after a weekend of DVRd shows and netflix, I'm realizing I am so spoiled and don't really want to watch most shows in real time. I really don't like commercials.

* while totally feeling the need to be crafty, I only accomplished making chocolate chip cookies. I have a lot of quilt ideas floating through my head but nothing is coming together and I feel stuck. As for scrapping, stamping, card making ..... no desire to go there at all. =(

* Saturday afternoon cuddles that turn into unexpected naps are the best.

* Staying up until 2 AM on Friday night to have extra time with Boyd was fun but totally threw me off.

* Can't wait for next weekend when Boyd does NOT have to work for the first time in FIVE weeks! It's been crazy at our house! Which is why I stayed up with him on Friday night.

* my one little word - still haven't decided on One word but totally living the theme.

One little word 2012 edition

I'm having trouble picking my one little word this year. I know what it needs to be but I'm having trouble picking the one word I want.

Blossom
Change
Transform

To me they all basically mean the same thing. Change just seems to simple. Transform feels more like what's going to happen - definitely having more energy to transform the house into the image I have in my head. Blossom is also what I hope happens this year - blossoming into a better person.

.....and now I've thought of a fourth word ... Grow.

Maybe I should just make an acronym BCTG =)

Jan 4th

It's Jan 4th in Iowa and I'm wearing shorts.

This has been such a crazy year. Very little snowfall. A yard full of brown grass. Temps in the 40s-50s.

Tomorrow I heard it might get to 55 - if my room at work wasn't so cold I'd consider wearing shorts to work. I can't even wear shorts to work in the summer so that's saying something.

The dogs are loving it. I was working in my sewing room and Buddie kept crowding me. He got me to sit down and then he just stood there with his chin on my knee. I finally got to a stopping point and asked if they wanted to go out and he got so excited and ran to the door. Crazy kids!