Thank you everyone

For all your prayers! I can't tell you how much it means to me. It was another very long day, but the operation is over and when I left a little after 9:00 he was doing ok. The doctor said the operation went well. The Bleb(which is like a blister on the lung and is what pops and makes the lung collapse) was bigger than he anticipated, but he removed it and then they use some kind of sticky talcum powder and put that on the lung and when it is inflated, it adheres to the chest wall I believe. This will prevent it from collapsing again if he ever has another problem.
He was very disoriented after coming out of the anesthesia, but he said one nurse did a good job at bringing him back to reality. It's not like him though. He usually comes out of it relativey easy and is cracking jokes. I waited until they gave him something for the pain and then I left. I will go back early tomorrow to see him.
The doctor gave me a glossy colored picture of the bleb on the lung but I won't share that here. It's a little too graphic for some stomachs, but I certainly find it facinating lol.
Well, I am tired and hungry, but I wanted to come on here and thank each of you for your thoughts and prayers. We all thank you! He will be in for a few more days to make sure there aren't any more leaks. I will let you know how he does.
I certainly hope everyone is having a great week! I want to see some updates on all your blogs of things you have been making!

Great Retreat weekend and now it's Awful Monday

I had a really nice weekend working on some things for our retreat with our online group AAPG. This month's theme was stars, but you could work on anything really. The idea again is to just keep checking in the group to see what everyone is doing.
I started with making what I thought was going to be a mat, but ended up to be a pillow. I seem to always make pillows. Need to venture out to different things. My friend Pat said she will show me how to needle turn applique sometime soon, and I just wanted to try my hand at it. I didn't have matching thread but did the best I could for the first try. I enjoyed it very much even if I was doing things wrong lol. I backed it with a piece of muslin and aged it with Betty's walnut stain formula that she offers with some of her purchased patterns. I'm happy with it and was really happy to finally use one of those leather buttons from a man's jacket in the center!

Then I decided to do a punch needle. This one came together relatively quickly. Just took time to paint the board to go along with it.

Oh, I forgot. On Friday, Nicole and I painted her brothers bedroom which will now be hers. It's just a little bit bigger than hers. Definitely a bigger closet than what she had which is good too. She had chosen two colors to paint it and I really like the results. Here's just a shot of her painting.
We still haven't picked out carpet yet. That is going to be a little while yet. I did pick up some paint chips for her room that will be my new wool room. Am really looking forward to that!

Ok, now for the Awful Monday part. My mil had a doctor's appointment today (just a checkup), but I had to have her cancel it. George has been battling a cold for about 3 weeks now. Coughing a lot, and last night he did some major coughing. This morning he got up went into the bathroom, but never made it into the shower at that point. He was having trouble breathing. Wasn't sure if it was his heart or lung. Being a "man", he just wanted to go to the doctors. He had a 12:00 appointment and got in the shower around 10:00. When he got out of the shower, even with the window and door wide open, his breathing got worse. So after a very long day of taking him to the doctors and having a chest xray, George had a tension pneumothorax. Which is a completely collapsed lung, and the pressure from the air that was building up inside, it was pushing to the other side and on his esophagus and heart. So I took him to the emergency room and they put in a chest tube. This is the second time it has happened and on the same side. We talked with a doctor and have agreed to have it operated on. And that will take place sometime tomorrow.

After the tube was put in, he is feeling much more comfortable. I watched them put the tube in. I had to stand my ground with the emergency room doctor that I was staying there. I've been through this before with George and watched the whole procedure before. This doctor did it a little differently, but George was just fine. I know they were worried that I'd be on the floor passed out. But he's my husband and I wasn't leaving. I know a lot of people wouldn't watch, but I am intrigued but it all. The nurses said I should be a nurse lol. They gave me a copy of his chest xray, and it's the only thing I have from today to show you. I teased George about not having my camera with me to update my blog of his adventure. I didn't want to get him laughing because he couldn't breathe right. But it was funny! Now the picture isn't gory, so don't worry. Just a shot of a collapsed lung. The one on the right has all these squiggly lines going through the lung. that is normal and full. The one on the left (which is his right lung) is totally collapsed and I drew a circle around his lung deflated. The solid black area is all air, and was pushing everything to the other side. Very dangerous. Some of you might find it interesting, some may not. I'm ready to chill out the rest of the night. Haven't called Nicole yet. She is in Ocean City, MD for a week, and there really isn't anything she can do. And we don't want to worry her. I'll know when it's the right time to call her if I need to at all. Craig did come and visit his dad this afternoon. He works at the hospital in the IT department.

I'm just asking for prayer for George. I believe in prayer and I KNOW it helps. It helped him last time this happened. That's why he didnt' need the surgery. God answered. But we dont' want this to happen again, and that is why he's agreed to it. I just ask that God be with George and the Doctor's hands tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers.

Have a wonderful week everyone! I hope the sun is shining and the hands are busy in whatever you choose to do...

My baby boy's 22nd Birthday

Geez, the years are flying by. Today Craig turned 22. I still say he's the one getting older, not me! Everything is so different now since he is living on his own. Usually he got to pick breakfast, lunch and dinner of his choice, but not this year. I would leave papers around the house saying Happy Birthday, but not this year. This year I called him and left a message on his cell phone wishing him a Happy Birthday. It's all I could do. He's a grown man now, working full time. No room in there for Mom to baby him any more, or make a fuss over him. Sad, but reality.

I remember my mom would always call me at the time I was born which was 11:02 a.m. No matter where I was, and she would sing Happy Birthday to me on the phone. I loved it. And ohh, how I miss it. Hope Craig enjoyed hearing my voice. Although he did tell me at dinner time that I wasn't the first one on his message machine. NationWide Insurance called him to wish him a Happy Birthday LOL. Guess I'm number 2....

So we met Craig and his girlfriend Lake at a resaurant in MD. It wasn't far from where my husand works, so he went there straight from work. Nicole and I drove together. We had a nice meal, and good conversation. I was happy Nicole remembered her camera. I forgot mine. Left it in my bag from this morning when I was at Linda's shop. I started whipping my rug. So Nicole took some shots for me, and I was able to snap one of her and her brother. Craig and Lake

Group shot..

Looking forward to seeing Craig on Saturday when he comes over to wash his car. Guess he still needs Mom and Dad for something lol.

Happy Birthday Craig!!

I was on a mission..........

To finish my camp rug. I am soooo happy and pleased with the way it turned out. I went to hook yesterday with Genny and Betty at church. I was able to complete one corner of the tongues and finish filling in around it with background. This motivated me to come home and work on it some more. Well, one thing led to another, and there was nothing to stop me from finishing it. I was watching one Lifetime Movie after another lol. I struggled a lot with the tongues. I had something in mind, and that didn't work. So everything else I tried, I felt like I was settling or just wasn't pleased. I did a LOT of ripping on them. Even when I got home from church, I second guessed myself and started to reverse hook and try other things. But I got to a point where I felt it would be ok. I was also pleasantly surprised that the black I overdyed for the background lasted for the whole thing. I wasn't sure. But I know I don't have enough to whip it. So I will be doing that tonight along with pressing it really well. I had planned on doing it today, but other things got in the way. So here it is!! I'll be taking it with me tomorrow to Linda's to start the whipping. I still may do one more thing to the rug, but I'm not sure yet. I'll let it sit for a bit before I start pulling anything out. What a great feeling this morning to walk down and know that the hooking is over for this one. Can't wait to get it up on the wall. But that will take a little time yet since I have to paint the walls in the room that it will be going in. What an incentive to get it done now!

Here is Genny's rug that she is working on. I love her enthusiasm and how she just jumps right in to hook. I think it's turning out great.

Tomorrow is our son Craig's 22nd Birthday. We will either be going out to dinner as a family or they will come here. Haven't figured that out yet. Looking forward to spending some time with him and his girlfriend Lake.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!!

A Father and his daughter

I hope all the men out there had a wonderful Father's Day yesterday. Not sure if any men read my blog, but Happy Father's day to you if you do!
Nicole really out did herself for her Dad yesterday. Saturday we were still running around trying to figure out something to get him and came up empty handed. She didn't want to get him another pair of shorts or a tee shirt. So I said how about some of his favorite candy and she can take him out to lunch. So that's what we decided. I picked up the bag of peanut chews and gave them to her. I just expected her to wrap them, but what she did brought a smile to my heart. I had no idea she was going to do this. I went to bed Saturday night and on Sunday morning this is what her Dad woke up too. This was on our bedroom door as we walked out.

Then going down the hall......

There was one on each step going down, but it was too dark for a picture. This was at the bottom of the stairs lol

Then into the foyer...


This led into the kitchen where he had a personalized menu waiting for him, along with his Father's Day card. Inside the card she said she was taking him out to lunch, and that SHE was driving lol. I had to take a picture of the menu. She stayed up making this the night before. I have a hard time believing that we didn't hear a thing. Especially when she came into our room to put the sign on. Our door squeeks. Scary to think anyone could have come in! We were probably just snoring away. That would have scared anyone off anyway lol. So here's the menu.

She used packing tape to laminate it lol. Crinkly, but oh too cute! Definitely a keeper for my memory box.......

Then they went out to lunch and Nicole did drive. George said she did well. I was able to take a few shots of them when they got back.

And the final bow handing him his candy LOL.

Happy Father's Day George~~

I did work on my rug this weekend too. I only have the tongues in the corners to finish!!! I am sooo psyched. I will try and decide on how I will finish those up and I hope to have a final picture soon for you all to see!!

Enjoy your Monday........ Hope the rain has stopped for the majority of you. I know the weather has been quite icky. Not so bad here. We wer fortunate!

Celebrating a birthday

Not mine, but my friend Beth's birthday.It's actually the 26th, but she came over and spent the day yesterday. I first have to say that I am sooooooo sorry that I forgot to take pictures. I still can't believe it. I even had the camera with me. UGH! is all I have to say!! Because when I think about it, I get mad lol.

It rained pretty much the entire day. But that didn't stop us from having some fun. I took Beth to see Linda's shop, and was very surprised to see that Linda was back from Hawaii. It was a nice visit, and we talked for quite a while. Didn't mean to keep Linda from her work!

From there we went to Red Robin for a delicious lunch, and then to Kohl's (I had to return a couple items), and the to Michael's and Joanne's. Came back to my house and had pizza for dinner and then she talked me into making one of the pin cushions like I made her for her birthday. Joanne had given me some of these boxes a while back, and I've been wanting to make something with them. I still have to make one for her for her generosity. She has to tell me what design she wants though. Anyway, I had fun using one of Betty's free patterns of her cat. I can't draw, so I used one of hers. She has some awesome patterns, check them out! I bought the sheep pattern from her and punched that up for Beth too.

This is the pincushion that I made for her. The one I made later was made with wool. I now have something made for Colonial Day in September, woo hoo! Need to really get cracking with that. I wrapped her box with a couple yards of homespun because she likes to make toothbrush rugs. I tried to get Beth to make one of the pin cushions with me, but she just wanted to watch. She did help me by pulling the strings while I held it. Told her she'd get half the profit lol. Beth is good at coming up with some wonderful ideas. Now I just need to get her to DO some of them! She's very creative.... We really did have a nice day. It's a shame that we wait so long in between to get together. I'm stating it here, and I'm going to try and hold her to it. She told me that she is "considering" coming to the Brandywine hook-in this year! Would love to see Beth get back into hooking. I think her "hiatus" from rug hooking has been long enough!

Today has been a pretty much nothing kind of a day. The sun is finally out. No rain this morning, so that was nice. I kept saying I was going to get off of this box here and go do something. Now I really mean it. Daughter just left with her boyfriend and his mom, so I have the house to myself!
Hope everyone is enjoying their day....

Gift in the mail

Yesterday was such a beautiful day with the sun shining and getting things accomplished. I did get my car washed inside and out. Feels good to get the bug splatter off the windshield! While I was in the middle of doing this, the mail woman came and handed me the mail. Craig has been getting packages left and right. He is fixing up computers and selling them. He's so talented with that! There was one package for him, but there was one for me too! It was from Kelley from AAPG, our on line group. I wanted to stop what I was doing and open it, but I just set it down. If I didn't stay focused, I wouldn't finish. I know me lol. But I did look at it a few times wondering what was in it. When I was all done, I came in the house and went right for the scissors. Oh my, what a lovely package. There were beautiful worms and a lovely piece of wool along with a punch needle piece by her. It is just gorgeous. I had to run to get my glasses to see it up close. I wanted to see how she finished her piece. Everyone does things differently. I love how she did it and will try it on one of my next pieces. Thank you so much Kelley ! Last night I went back to EB for some hooking. I can't believe I made it there 2 weeks in a row. That hasn't happened in a long time. It was such a lovely evening. I love how it stays lighter longer. Everyone was sitting outside under the trees.

Janice and Joe have such a lovely piece of property.
Katie ran out of her strips that she brought with her, and you can see on the left hand side of the border (that little tiny white spot), how much more she has to go! I took a picture of this last week and I was amazed at how much she accomplished.
Janice too! Same thing. I took a picture of it last week, and see how much she got done?
Her dog Milly had to come and join us too. She's too cute, and is such a sweet dog.
Directly across the stree from Janice is a field where there are some of these... I had to go take a look. The guy who owns them was feeding them some grain.

Now I know I am originally from NJ, and moving out here has been absolutely wonderful. But you would "think" that I would know better. Here is your laugh for the day, I made the girls laugh last night...... They are black, and I just "assumed" they were bulls LOL. Nope, cows and their babies. Oh how pathetic am I lol? They were just too cute, and I had to go over and talk with them and take a picture.

I'm hoping to make it back next week, but I'm not sure what the plans are yet. So we'll play it by ear. I do enjoy the company. It is a long ride for me. 50 minutes or so, and in the evening it's a tense ride home in the dark over the mountain. Last week I saw 5 deer. This week I saw 2 deer and a fox. I'm just so afraid of hitting something, so it's slow go all the way.

Time to get ready to pick up my daughter and get my day going here. I hope everyone has a productive day! Not sunny here, but I plan on making the best of it....... Hope you do too...

Bright Monday Morning

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. The weather, all though being hot, has been wonderful to me. I am one who enjoys heat and humidity. Not for the hair though. I just feel comfort. As weird as it sounds, I love walking out of a cold department store, grocery store, or even my home into the feeling of the heat. My body just says aaaahhh. Again, I know, strange. Having an underactive thyroid and being cold all the time, it is just one time I feel my body temperature is regulated. I do have to say though, with age, I'm not "as" cold on a daily basis. So that's good!
Saturday was a busy day with running. Nicole had a dress fitting for the wedding she is in next month. The dress is very simple and very pretty. An ice blue in color. I also got to see the bride in her gown which was just beautiful, and the Vicki, the mom of the bride had her dress on to be altered too. Oooh, the color is like a teal blue and she was being teased for the "bling" it had on it. Very elegantly beaded. Me? I have no idea yet what I will wear for the wedding. It's something I will have to go out and buy. Hmm, will have to start looking soon! Nicole drove us to Walmart to develop some pictures of her prom for Brandon's parents, and then to Lowe's for some paint chips for painting her room. She is getting Craig's room and I'd really like to get the ball rolling on that. George seems to think he fixed the floor problem. And before we get the new carpet in there, we will paint the walls. so hopefully in the next week we will have it painted. THEN, I get to start planning on making her old bedroom my new wool room. I really want to take everything piece by piece and get it organized.
The rest of the day I spent on making a few birthday gifts. I know she is reading my blog, so I can't post any pic's. Beth will be coming out on Wednesday to spend the day so we can celebrate her birthday which is the 26th. I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure we will stop at Linda's, go out for lunch, and then who knows what. Can't wait!
Yesterday I putzed around, worked on finishing up a few things around here, and then just relaxed. Again, another gorgeous day, although it was hot.
How odd it felt this morning not to have to get up super early to get Nicole to school. She's still sleeping! In all honesty, I could have stayed in bed a lot longer than I did. But I knew if I didn't push myself to get up and do my exercising, it wouldn't get done. Glad I did, and I know it's done for the day. The house is very peaceful right now, and I'm just enjoying it. I think I'll grab a cup of coffee and maybe go out on the deck and plan what I have to do today.
Tonight I will be going to EB to hook with the girls again at Janice's. I'm looking forward to that, since I didnt' get to any hooking this weekend.
Sure hope today is a great start to a wonderful week for all of you! Be creative..

School's out..

Today was Nicole's last day of 10th grade. She was ready to be done a week ago. Told me she could not understand why they had to just waste time and do nothing the last week of school. I said it was the same when I was in school. Some things just don't change.

She brought home her clay projects she worked on this year. One of her pieces blew up in the Kiln which was a shame. It was her favorite she said. I did take a shot of her other pieces. She told me I could have the two smaller pieces. I was happy. I really like them. The other piece is her Tikki piece. She wanted them to nest inside each other, and she did a great job! The smaller piece was also supposed to open and she would have a third piece, but it was sealed together. No biggy. On the top of the large one, she etched in one of her favorite Proverbs from the bible. I forget off hand which one it was. And then on the smaller one she has a verse from 1Timothy. Glad the school didn't say anything about it. Sometimes you never know how they will feel. There was a third piece like the 2 I get to have, but it wasn't fired. The teacher said she could bring it back next year. He had to finish up the Seniors pieces before school was out, so time ran out.





So now that school is out, I'm sure tomorrow I will hear "I'm bored", "What can I do"? LOL. I really thought that would stop as they got older, but it hasn't yet~.

Went to a few yard sales this morning before I had to pick her up, but found absolutely nothing. Was bummed in a way. I was able to work more on my rug yesterday and got another section filled in. I'm hoping later to lay some lettering on it for my initials and date to see where I will want to place them and then write it on there. Ooooh, so close to being done!!!! Two things need to be decided. Which way the rug will hang, and what color wool I will use for the lettering. So, do any of you have any suggestions? The way the picture is right now is one way, and the lettering would be on either side in place of those small flower things. Or, imagine it turned counter clockwise and now the lettering would be on top and bottom. I think I like it on the sides, but will play with it. And if you had to pick out a colored wool for the lettering which one would you use? I don't want it to stand out too much. The green in the little leaves that stick out on the left was my first choice. Just thought I'd see what others feel. Would appreciate any opinions. Also, I'm thinking about the flower in the top right hand corner. That light teal is right up against the black. I'm thinking of adding a strip of maybe the brown base of the flower to the outer part. What do you think?


Off to get some things done before I sit down and work on this some more this evening. Thanks for any input you would like to share!
Wow, it's Thursday already. The week is just about over. Hope it has been a good week for you all.

Hook, hook, and hook some more..

What a great way to start off the week by hooking. Yesterday was the Monday that Blue and Gray meet in Gettysburg. I had asked Pat if she wanted to ride with me. Sooo glad she agreed! Ended up she drove. On our way there going over the mountain, I wish I would have had my camera out. We saw a wild turkey crossing the road. Man, are those things ugly lol. At least I think so. It was a nice size group, but not as many as there has been. The church that it was held in was having their vacation bible school. When I walked in, I thought we were going to have a picnic. All the tables were covered with picnic styled table cloths. There are always a lot of rugs to look at, so I will just post them along with who hooked them. Starting with Joan. She did this paisley piece in camp, just not sure which year. It's been an on going project that I know she is thrilled to have done. Just finished it up not too long ago. And she has made it into a gorgeous pillow! Love the cording to go with it, and I didn't get a shot of the back, but she had some decorative stitches added to it. Very lovely. Here is Joan's other rug that she just finished also. This woman is always coming up with beauties! Her and Nancy are going to camp in just a couple of weeks. Can't wait to hear all about it when they come back.

This mat was done by Peggy

And these small mats were done by Ann. I hope I didn't get them switched on who hooked what.

Pat brought her rug to whip, and by the time she left, she had just a couple inches left to do. It was her first time she said that she whipped the rug with the wool strips. I think it turned out just great! !

Ruth was finishing up her rug for her daughter. She has one lucky daughter!! Each piece that Ruth has done seems to be for her daughter as a gift. I'm waiting for Ruth to hook a piece for herself. Each piece that she has done for a gift she says is "not" her lol. Ruth likes very light backgrounds. She's really not into the primitive stuff.

Judith is just about done with her mat. Little areas of sculpting in this one. Very pretty...

Delores is working on a piece that she had put away for a while. She was laughing and telling me how she wasn't sure which wool she used. She had to pull a strip out so she could see the wool and then go looking for it. She also has pieces of wool pinned to the pattern to show her which wool to use where. I thought that was a good idea.

Margaret is working on a runner that I just love. I love all the colors she used. Very cool pattern!

And Peggy is doing another beautiful fine cut for her brother. She was telling me that her brother loved the color blue, and this blue she used in here is the same blue she used in one of his other rugs she made for him. What a lucky guy!!!! Absolutely stunning work.

Pat and I left around 1:00 I guess. I got home in time to put my bag away and then get ready to pick up Nicole from school. We went straight to the mall so she could fill out some applications. She really wants a job, and there isn't anything out there. I hope someone calls her. She is getting discouraged. But it is a good learning lesson. Made it back in time for dinner and had a quick bite. Then it was out the door again, and I went all the way back out to East Berlin. About 50 minutes or so from my house. I haven't been out there in I guess a month. It was really nice seeing everyone. This time it was at Janice's house. What a wonderful old farm house she has. And decorated so nice. You always feel at home there. Again, here are some rugs and who is hooking them.

Here is Kim hooking Autumns Grande Finale like the one I did, and a couple others in the group did it too. Kim plans on making a second one so she can put both of them in her cabin.

Well, behind this really nice rug is Kim's mother in law Katie lol. This is something she is making for a gift.

Brenda is working on a piece to give to her son. He goes to the Shippensburg University which is in town near me. Parts of this rug are sculpted. My daughter saw it as I was putting the rugs on the computer and she knew exactly what this was, as it represents the University.
And this is another of Brenda's pieces. I had posted a pictuare of this a while back, and now she has gone back and took out the purple she had in there. The water lillies are sculpted as well. Love that blue background. Great job!

Got a shot of some of them hooking away. Janice (she's way in the back sitting) treated us to some rootbeer floats. I had to turn her down because I get an instant migraine with rootbeer. But she had some Verner's gingerale and I had that. Ooooooh my was that delicious! Thank you Janice!
Janice and her husband Joe have a daughter Krista who is expecting their first child in August. She lives in Florida. Both Janice and Joe love to create things. They are very much into the colonial style and so is their daughter. Joe is gifted in so many areas when it comes to making things. He built this cradle to give to her. It is just beautiful. I asked him if I could share it on my blog and he said yes. He also teased me about signing a piece of paper, but we didn't get that far lol. Isn't it wonderful? What a lucky daughter!! Can't wait to hear what Krista has. A boy or a girl. They didn't want to know. Kim above is also awaiting her first grandchild. Her daughter is due next week! She is going to have a little girl. Praying for a smooth delivery for both of them!!

Janice is also hooking this rug for the baby. Krista is going to love it!

Today was another busy day for me. Got to go hooking at church with Genny. This is her latest rug she is working on. We had the giggles though when I got there. Genny realized her load was a little on the light side. She forgot her frame lol. But she was able to hook a little. Just a little slower lol.

And here is mine. I am getting there! Closer and closer the background is getting filled in. I am happy now with the all the flowers. I just needed to walk away from it for a while. How about that? Saved me from doing some reverse hooking! I love my background too. It really makes everything pop.

I was going to work some more on it this evening, but I have some bills to write out and I've already got a jump on cleaning up some of the kitchen. Tomorrow will be a cleaning day for me. I wonder if the locall fire department will come over, and if I open up the front door, they will just let that big hose of theirs BLOW!!!! lol. But really, the house has gotten away from me. Too much running and not enough time spent here taking care of what God has graciously blessed us with. I'm ashamed. But notice I wasn't ashamed until AFTER I got home from hooking lol. So I really need to take the time tomorrow and get some stuff done. Will make a list tonight, or else tomorrow I would just walk around in circles from one room to the next. If I don't have a plan, I know it won't get done.

I'm hoping everyone else is having a great start to their week!!