Started my Second Peacock Tapestry

I cannot believe that 14 years after finishing my first Peacock Tapestry,  I started one for myself.  One to be all mine.  No sharing!  I decided upon Days Gone By handdyed 32 ct. lugana by Silkweaver for the fabric.   I think I will use silks for the peacock – I orderd them ages ago – almost 5 years ago.  At the time I had many TW pieces that I wanted to stitch so I held off.  Now that I am home and relaxing, I decided to go for it!  I have about 5 hours done – I think that I can do another 15 in the next two days.  I cannot believe that back in 1993 when I orginally stitched this that I completed it in 3 months – that while I was a junior in college and only had weekends and evenings to stitch.  My daughter remembers my mom saying she didn’t like the piece, but also remembered when mom decided the piece was to be hers.  I was about half way done when she came home with the frame the mat selection and a peacock feather! 

In 1999, I went to a CATS in Dallas and Teresa signed the back of the framed piece (along with Rapunzel and Fall Carosel Horse).  They are very special pieces.  Once this one is done,  I would love to have Teresa sign mine as well.  At least a goal is set! 

Also good new in the daughter arena.  She met a lovely young man her age – he is 21.  They both go to UMKC and he is a pre-med student.  He is very focused on getting through med school with excellent grades.  He also works out and works in what little time he has.  They study together.  When H is done, she knits while James continues studying.  He is a nice boy who understands here goals and his own.  I suppose because I like him, the relationship won’t last, but one can hope!

Stitching:  “Peacock Tapestry” by Teresa Wentzler

Reading:  “Temple of the Winds” by Terry Goodkind

TLI Is Over…

Yesterday was a really long day.  My dear daughter went on a first date and had too much to drink.  Fortunately the young man was nice and understood she drank because she hadn’t been on a first date in 4 years.   So she was under the weather at TLI.  She did a great job as usual, but was not her perky little self.  We got there at 7:40 and for some reason some information went out the registration began at 8:00 instead of 8:30.  We had people lined up too early, but it worked anyway.  Because of the snow and ice on Monday, we had a record 210 people attend.  The educational sessions were packed – in fact one of the rooms was too small so we moved them to a corner in the cafeteria.  Besides the room had blue prints in it.  The presenter didn’t go look at the room ahead of time – she had previously spoken in the room so she didn’t need to see the set up.  I learned a lesson from that one.

My persentation went very, very well.  I was being videotaped which was a bit of a surprise, but hey.  My knee was fine and at one point did seem to buckle, but the brace kept me standing up!  Maybe I should actually thank my doctor for it instead of cursing him!  H and I did leave early because my knee was screaming after lunch!  I took a hot bath when I got home and felt good enough to begin Teresa’s Spring Carosel Horse.  I cannot believe that 17 years after I finished the fall horse, I am finally doing Spring.  3 of the first 4 TW’s I did were the other carosel horses – what was I thinking.  I only stitch 5 hours in rotation, but I may actually go 10 this time.  I am really enjoying it.

Tomorrow, I will begin my second Peacock Tapestry.  My mom has the first one – signed by Teresa on the back of the framed piece.  I have said for years that I would do it again for myself.  Interestingly enough, I used the original leaflet and didn’t mark it up at all.  I am amazaed that back in ‘93 when I did this, that I didn’t highlight.  A hand written leaflet!  I remember being a bit frustrated on the leaves, but since I didn’t rotate then, I just marked my place with a post it note.  My how times have changed since I started a dedicated rotation back in 2000.  Moira (Erica) convinced me that with dedication a rotation would work.  I played around with 10 hours a piece – with 5 hours on my focus piece, then I went to 10 hours and an hour on my focus piece, then 5 hours and 1 hour on a focus piece.  For the last several years, I do 5 hours a piece – no focus piece.  I begin the rotation at the top every month.  Occasionally that means that the pieces at the bottom of the rotation don’t get touched, but I do try to keep the rotation small enough that I hit every piece every month – that means an average of 14 pieces in my rotation plus my travel piece.  When I am close to finishing, I may deviate from the rotation to finish the piece.  It just depends on the mood I am in at the time.  Because I don’t want to grow the rotation too much (I add a piece when I finish one – that was Spring), I may stitch longer on Spring and PT this time.  I don’t usually have enough leisure time to stich 100 hours a month – I average closer to 70.  I honestly hope I don’t have this much time again soon! 

Funny thing, yesterday everyone kept telling me that they though that I would be in pain – instead they found me happy and relaxed.  That was nice to hear – 2 weeks of reading, stitching, listening to music, and watching TV can be nice for a change.  I still have another week to go!  I will be happy to get back to work.  I took 3 weeks off last time – but the recovery was different and the pain was different.  This time, I was prepared (for the most part – except the brace thing) so I had my stuff ready.  This time the girls are home so I get to eat homecooked food and not fast food.  My son is not the best cook in the world! 

I talked to my mom about the lack of freedom.  Not being able to drive these two times has severely limited my freedom.  I am at someone else’s mercy to get things for me and take me places. My mom who is a nursing home director says that most of her elderly folks say that losing the ability to drive was the worst for them.  I now completely understand.  It is limiting, frustrating, and a pain…  I know that about 7 years down the road, I will be back in this situation. In 7 years, the kids will no longer be at home. That is rather scary.  A bridge I will cross when I get there.  I just hope that I remember this problem and feeling!

Reading:  “Temple of the Winds” by Terry Goodkind

Stitching:  “Spring Carosel Horse” by Teresa Wentzler

Boredom or Stir Crazy which???

I am ending my second week away from work.  Granted, I have had plenty to keep me busy, two Toastmasters Leadership Institutes, getting biographies done for our conference, etc., but I really do miss work.  I know that sounds kind of crazy, but I do.  I have read and cross stitched until I am tired.  I then take a two hour nap every day and start all over.  Next week, I will go to the conference hotel and hopefully get everything in place to have the contract signed!  That will be a relief in and of itself.  The place is nice so…

I think I am getting a cold and that just sucks on top of everything else.  It means that I have to call the pharamicist to determine counter indications for over the counter cold medicine.  Oh yes, mixed with Percocet I can just imagine that the answer is no to most everything.  At least I am already in bed.  Tomorrow I wil finish the bullet points for my presentation Saturday.  I might even actually write out a speech for a demo meeting on the 9th of February.  That would be a surprize for me – I rarely speak from a memorized script.  The only speeches I have done that way were contest speeches and they changed contest to contest based upon feedback!

I am seriously thinking of taking the Lt. Governor of Marketing role next year, but it kind of depends upon work related issues.  Mike would be great to work with, but the LGET is sort of a scatter brain.  It would mean being LGET when she is the District Governor.  Maybe I will still wait another year or two.  We shall see!

Watching: “Shark”

Reading:  “Temple of the Winds” by Terry Goodkind

Stitching:  “Traditional White Anyone” by Terry Lee Capps

Another week off!!!

I suppose that I should be grateful for another week off of work – thank goodness for short term disability, but I am not.  I will get plenty of stitching done, but after awhile it gets boring.  I just lose focus.  Maybe it is because I cannot do much else.  I had the stitches removed from the scope holes, and the incision site has just seri strips.  It really doesn’t look bad at all.  I was surprised by that.  Tomorrow I am allowed to take a shower!  Oh heaven!  I remember looking so forward to little things last time. 

I still have the brace on set to 20 degrees.  I am concerned about working on ROM again – with 3 weeks almost fully extended.  I don’t typically lose much quad muscle tone, but I have a hell of a time getting the ROM back.  Darn it all.  I really do want to ride the MS 150 with friends in Boston this June.  This has set me back a bit, but….

I am getting more stitching done that I expected.  Yesterday I didn’t do any at all.  My daughter and I are the coordinators for our Toastmasters District Leadership Training.  Our first session was yesterday.  I have one presenter call me at noon – she feel on the ice in her driveway and tore her rotator cuff.  I pulled her presentation.  Then I had the presidental presenter also decline at the last minute.  Thank goodness for my Toastmasters network.  He was covered!  The session went very well with 68 people showing up.  That is typical for the evening session – we though that given the ice and snow that many wouldn’t show up, I was wrong! 

 The next session is Saturday.  I hope that I won’t panic again.  I hate doing that.  The club that hosted the training was awesome and professional.  They are so nice an supportive.  We had a panic because the church that usually hosts the Monday night training had a conflict so we had to find another site at the last minute.  We did it though!   I was surprised that my knee didn’t hurt or swell when I got home!   I hope it is the same way this Saturday.  H and I are scheduled to drive to Wichita for the Feb 3 sessions there.  I hope that sitting in a car for 3 hours won’t be too much with the presentation as well.  At least on the way home, we will stop halfway and spend the night with my mom.  I haven’t been home since early December.  I want to see her new puppy so … this is an excuse.

 Did I mention that I finished my 53 TW piece this week – It was the Celtic Inspiration Band Sampler – a quickie TW finish at 21.5 hours.  I have been stitching Teresa’s pieces since 1989. Someday I hope to finish all of my favorites!  And a second finish on Peacock Tapestry – this time for me!

Watching: “State of the Union” what Toastmasters doesn’t just love/hate to hear Bush speak!

Reading:  “Stone of Tears” by Terry Goodkind

Stitching:  “Romeo and Juliet” by Teresa Wentzler

The cat…makes stitching difficult

My daughter’s cat, Zoe, usually has little to do with me – until the week. She has sat on my lap or at my feet since I came home Monday.  I do quite a bit of stitching and today the floss has just fascinated her.  She has batted at it, bit it, unthreaded needles, pawed it, etc.  It is pretty funny.  Her big blue eyes watch every stitch into the fabric.  Finally I just put her on the floor and off she went.  She hasn’t been back. 

I am getting very stir crazy.  I am yearning for a hot bubble bath, but that is out of the question.  I am hoping that the kids will help me into the shower after we tape up around the brace in a garbage bag.  We shall see.  I just feel yuckky!  I did get up and vacuum my bedroom floor and empty the trash.

 I want to go see my son’s girlfriends sister’s new baby.  He was born on Wednesday at 3 pm.  He was a huge 9 lbs 4 ozs.  Wow, Adrian is not all that large of a young lady!  C is like a daughter to me and her sister and brother are almost members of the family as well.  Since C has moved in, our life has been pretty full.  My son is so happy and so is C.  My own daughter, is C’s best friend and has been since 7th grade.  It is hard to believe that the kids are all grown up now.  Okay, and that I am getting old.

Stitching:  St. Basil’s Cathedral by Terrance Nolan

Watching: Dr. Phil

Reading:  “Blood of the Fold”  by Terry Goodkind

The day is sunny…

My car cost only $453.57 to fix.  Nice going huh?  Good thinig my ex is good friends with the mechanic.  I also found new, cheaper insurance for the kids and I.  My old agent is happy, and so is my new agent, and I am back with my original insurance company.  Guess what, my insurance is $100 cheaper a month for the same coverage!  Yeah.

My son is doing great.  He says he actually feels better – less gassy and less neausous.  He though he had acid reflux so he never mentioned his pain.  At least he told our doctor.  Great news all the way around. 

I am actually getting stir crazy. I stitch about 5 hours a day, work on my Toastmasters conference for about two, read and play around on the internet.  I am hoping that the leadership institute goes well on Monday.  I have my first post-op visit that day and I have no idea how I will be feeling for my 1:30 minute presentation.  At least the speakers are lined up (although one let me know he isn’t feeling well), but I can find a replacement fairly easily.   I had hoped to take a field trip to the conference hotel on Saturday, but the weather is supposed to be bad and they have an event that night.  We hope to go sometime next week.  It is a great location, but we have some things we would like to be able to do, but we cannot until we see the rooms.  They have their own audio systems, so that means we don’t have to drag ours there.  I admit that I will be glad when the whole thing is done on April 14th! 

My knee seems to be doing quite well.  The pain at the incision site has gone away.  I hope because it is healing and not rubbing the wrapping any longer.  I was able to sleep on my stomach and my side last night.  It is hard to move around with the stupid brace, but I had a great night of sleep.  I actually believe that part of the sleeping was because my son was home and safe and sound.  Silly I know, but

I have also spent time working on my budget, figuring out what my 401K percentage should be, working with the girls on a savings plan.  I am also finally inventorying my cross stitch materials.  My girls think I am nuts, but so be it!  I do not care.  At least I am organized.  My son wants me to figure out how much money I have involved in my cross stitch.  I still tell him it is less than his tools.  It seems that men’s hobbies really cost more.  Tools, computers, video games, etc. 

All in all, my day has been much better than the last several.  I just hope it stays that way!  I just want to be rehabed before my friend, Brent’s, wedding in May.  He is getting married in Mexico and I plan on going. It sounds like a great party! 

Stitching:  “St. Basil’s Catherdral”  by Terrance Nolan

Watching:  Who knows, I never really watch anyway….

Reading:  “Blood of the Fold” by Terry Goodkind

When It Rains It Apparently Pours..

Did I mention that I slid into a curb on the way to the hospital on Monday?   Well I did, and it damaged the wheel and something else – a bearing issue maybe.  Anyway that sucked and I called the insurance agent yesterday to report the claim.  They tell me my insurance was cancelled on December 15!  Okay, how and why?  I have a renewel due on January 20, but in no way have I been told or received news of cancellation.  In reality, the only reason I was placing a claim is because I expect the fix to be about $1000.  Since my deductible is $500, it made sense to me.  Anyway, they are coming out today to take a look.  I do have rental car insurance, but the question is now can my under 21 year old daughter drive the rental.  Who knows?

I am feeling much better.  My son is out of surgery – his dad’s car died on the his way to the hospital this morning.  He thinks it is a wiring issue on the computer.  My son is doing great.  That at least makes me feel better although we have no car for 5 people right now.  That really, really sucks. 

When the adjuster comes it will be interesting to see me hobble downstairs to answer the door.  We shall see.

Surgery Days…

I have been madly getting ready for my surgery, making sure things were set here at home (along with moving the coffee maker upstairs) and getting my projects covered at work.  I had my surgery yesterday.  Today I am in a bit of a haze and a bit of pain.  I woke up to find myself in a darned brace only open to 20 degrees again.  The kids say I seemed a bit ticked off.  The doctor told the kids that I should probably take another week off of work.  He cleaned up the meniscus tear, took out the 2 really long, shiny, sharp screws, cleaned up the cartilage on the back of the patella and did the lateral release.  All in all, today hasn’t been bad.  This house is much easier to manage than the old one! 

My son is having his gall bladder removed tomorrow at the same hospital.  Because I am still in pain and can’t bend the darned leg, my ex is thinking that I would be better off staying at home during his surgery.  Me and my little polar care icechest will stay at home.  My daughter will take me back in the evening to see him at the hospital. I feel like a bad mom, not being there when my baby (okay he is 18) is having surgery.  He seems very calm about the entire thing.  In fact, he has been replacing my wiper blades with winter ones (that ice and snow proved it was needed) and then found a broken rim.  Right now he is at the dealer having the wheel replaced.  Darned wheels. 

I have his overnight bag ready – I recharged his iPod — he will be happy.  His girlfriend is adding a surprise.  I have no idea what.  And then her sister is being induced tomorrow.  When it rains – it pours around here!

At least I have plenty of time to cross stitch.  I wasn’t able to get Teresa’s new book, but I plan on starting Enchanter just as soon as I find the book.  I have the fabric all ready!  Now here is the odd thing,  I have 1 corner of 4 done on Paisley corner.  I started the second when I was in Boston in December.  Now I cannot find the pattern anywhere!  I have searched high and low.  Nowhere!  It is my travel piece so I am not as freaked out as I thought I would be – but still!  Where can it be?

I also started inventorying my floss.  Cassie, thinks I am nuts, but it keeps me busy.  The busier the better.  I told her my cross stitch aquisting habits are no different than her beauty supplies.  She is going to beauty school and the bathroom here is packed.  The nice thing is that my hair is always perfectly cut and colored. 

So much for poor me.  My cats are being so sweet.  They sit close and cuddle.  My dogs are staying off of the bed.  I think that animals have intuition when people aren’t feeling well.  My daughter’s cat, Zoe, has never spent much time with me, but the last two days she has been right with me.  It is so cute.

Reading:  “The Blood of the Fold”  by Terry Goodkind

Watching: Dr. Phil

Stitching:  “Summer Fairy” by Teresa Wentzler