Audrey

It is with a broken heart I announce that my Mother passed away early Thursday morning.  

Thank you for all the support you have offered me throughout our journey.  Mom's suffering is over and she is at peace

A good day

It's Friday, it was sunny and some snow was melting.  By late morning I was restless so I begged for the afternoon off.  Yippee!  I'm starting to get into our new routine and I had several hours of free time with now worries or commitments.  

What's a girl to do?  I raced around and finished a couple of errands and then went home to watch the Olympics.  (Big game this afternoon).  I had my rug frame on my lap and my team was playing well.   After a few minutes I thought something was missing.  Hmmm, what was it??

Well, you can't watch hockey without a cold beer!  

Hockey, beer and hooking.  Now THAT is a well spent Friday afternoon!

And I finished the hooking on the Vintage Hearts Primitive pattern "Here's My Heart".  I'll do the binding tomorrow morning.  I love this pattern. 

Happy Friday all. 

Some 4 letter words

I think this 4 letter word is really nasty........SNOW.  All I see is white.  I need color!  This is my view looking towards my backyard after another foot and a half of "it" fell in the past 2 days

And tomorrow morning is garbage pick up so I suppose I have to shovel out the bin before bedtime.  Not happy!

"Please, Old Man Winter.....listen to this 4 letter word........STOP!"

Now on to a much happier 4 letter word........GOLD

Canada is bringing home 2 more of these beauties after today's performances.  Women's curling AND hockey.   Yay!!  ( sorry to my American friends, I'm just Canada Proud tonight )

I saw this on Facebook tonight and hope the men's hockey team can repeat another golden moment.

Trying a halo

Even though I am often angelic..... (OK, stop laughing now)  I am actually referring to another kind of halo.  My lastest rug project was not very well planned color-wise and I had hooked myself into a dilemma.  But as always, blog friends came to the rescue with suggestions.  

Lauren from Rugs and Pugs suggested I try a halo effect around the ladies.  I already had 2 rows hooked around and had enough wool to hook a third row and then I started hooking the remainder in a dark brown wool.  

I think it's going to work.  Thanks Lauren :)   I will hook a little more tomorrow night and see if that's enough.  I'm tempted to extend the border a little more with one highlight line but I'm going to wait before I dive in again without a bit more planning.   Unless something drastic happens this piece should be done by the weekend.  When it might get around to the binding is another story.  Lol.  The hookers dilemma --- loves to hook, hates to bind. 

Too much of one, not enough of the other

Yes, another storm.  Second one this week and this one left a good dumping of the white stuff.  There must have been a little freezing rain over night too because the snow was heavy.   Grrrrr, enough already!  This is getting to be a bit much.  

Millie gets a bit distressed when the snow is deep enough to disappear in.  In my defense, it was deeper than it looked when I put her out to pee. Poor little girl.  The look on her face when she sank to her neck......

So I had to bundle her up in a heated blanket and she got some extra treats to win her heart again.  Within an hour she had forgiven me. And next time to took her out I had the step shoveled off.  

Since my snow plow didn't arrive today, and the snow continued and fall and blow around, there was nowhere to go - so no excuse not to hook all afternoon.  I ordered this pattern from Vintage Heart Primitives and it arrived last week - "Here's My Heart".   I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.   I hooked the Mom and daughter first and then grabbed a piece of wool for the background 

Now I need to come clean here.  Perhaps it's all the snow and bad weather that is making me stupid.  Or maybe I'm just plain stupid because I looked at the piece of wool for the background and I knew it wasn't enough.  And I knew I didn't have anymore.  And yet......I started using it anyway.   Duhhhh!! 

It's time to out it down for the night and try to decide my next step.  The chances of me finding another piece of this wool are slim to none.  But none the less, it felt great to have nothing to do all day but sit and hook.  (OK, it's not like I had nothing else to do.....I just chose not to do anything else. Lol) 

Time to knit for a short while until Downton Abbey comes on TV.  This season hasn't been the greatest (in my opinion) but last weeks episode was much better.  

Be still my heart

Happy Valentine's Day!  This was my valentine.  Lol.   Even single girls deserve wine and chocolates, right? 

I came home from work last night and I had mail.  Blogger friend mail (the best kind).  I could smell the lavender from the first envelope I grabbed and before I even turned it over I knew it was from sweet Lauren from Rugs and Pugs blog.  It was one of her hooked hearts filled with lavender buds.

Lauren is a very generous blogger and a wonderful "hooker" so I was tickled to receive another piece of her work.  I've been blessed with one of her punched pieces too.  Her loops are perfect. 

Then I greedily grabbed the next package.  It was from Andrea over at Maybe Its Just Me....blog.  I was so curious because she has a delightfully wicked sense of humor.  Just like my twisted mind, so I knew it would be something that would make me belly laugh.  We have a couple of running jokes between us and she did not disappoint. 

I now have my very own Super Hero outfit.  (Don't be jealous) 

A cape, a glittery crown, and a mask.  (Because every Super Hero has a secret identity, so you definitely need a mask).  I need to start thinking about my first "caped" adventure.  People in town should rest easy tonight as I am ready to respond to a crisis in a moments notice.  For example, if you can't get the cork out of the bottle, just send up the signal .... I'll be there!   Lol 

Oh and everyone needs a supply of monkey stickers.  I mean, who doesn't love monkeys?

Thank you to both of these ladies.  You brightened my week and made me feel the valentine love. 

Valentines came early

Nothing like a cup full of kisses to brighten your day.  A cute little surprise with chocolate ---- perfect.  I go to a little bible study group with a few ladies on Wednesdays at noon.  I haven't been there in about 2 months so I picked a good day to show up ;)

I'm one of "The Babes"!   This may be the most happiness anyone has even gotten from a styrofoam cup.  Lol 

And then I came home to find special mail.  Last month I won a giveaway from Felicia at Raggedy Creations blog.  I love it!  A beautifully stitched candle mat.  Her work is perfect.

I think this is going to look perfect on top of Mom's dresser.  Thank you Felicia 

Starting a new chapter

It's now official.  Mom was transferred this morning to her new "home".  I am struggling with no longer thinking of her as a patient and now as a resident.  Things went reasonably well but honestly I'm heart broken.  I am trying hard to accept things and not dwell on it.  I know we will all adjust but it's hard to have been completely responsible for someone's care for so long and now to completely hand it over to others. 

I need to get some more photos for Mom's room and I want to put more hooked rugs on the wall.  So "pretty" will take some time.  One of the first things to go in the room was her special angel.  

A friend brought her to the hospital on Christmas Eve and she has watched over Mom ever since.  And of course there's a picture of Millie there too. 

It seems that they are not really eager to move Mom's room so for now it looks like this it.  Mom's bed is on the right.  I bought that new recliner for me when I visit.  The window at the foot of bed looks out to a couple of bird feeders and the staff told me that deer and pheasants are frequent visitors.  I think I may find a low, narrow stand for the foot of the bed and buy a small TV.  I found that it entertained her when she was alone in the hospital.  Until she is assessed for a proper Geri-chair she is not mobile and I don't want her laying there all day bored. 

Sorry I didn't take better pictures but it was a bit chaotic, moving and meeting all new people.  

Dark picture but she loves the butterflies on her new quilt. I need to quickly hook a larger rug to go next to the birdhouse rug.  Any suggestions?

I will say the staff were very helpful and welcoming.  The residents are not lacking for attention in this wing.  That is a good thing.   Thank you all for the encouragement and support.  It has helped me so much as I try to figure out this next new phase in life.  It was a very long day.  I think I will sleep like a rock tonight 

Pretty is a slow process

Another busy few days.  Last time I posted I was getting ready to finalize things at the Long Term Care Facility for Mom.  I went on Friday morning to complete all the paperwork.  Lordy, there were about 20 pages to the agreement etc.  I have never held back on telling you how I feel here so there is no point stopping now.  It was quite an emotional time.  It seemed like with every paper I signed I felt a little worse.  Well, mixed feelings really.  I know I'm doing the right thing, but each paper I signed felt like I was selling her or just handing her off to be someone else's responsibility.   I know that's silly but the paperwork was getting out of hand.  

We discussed Moms condition and limitations and then it was time for me to see the room.  We kept walking and walking down the corridor and I kept getting this sinking feeling, especially as we neared the end.  Sure enough, the room was the last one at the end of the hall.  I felt sick, but decided to hold emotions in check and just let see what happens.  I knew the rooms were small but.......small barely qualifies.  Tiny, more like it - for 2 people.  I tried to introduce myself to the lady in the room but it wasn't going well.  The more I tried to talk to her the more she gave me "the stink eye".  Shit, this isn't going well, I'm thinking.  

Then the staff member with me said that maybe the room at the end of the hall wasn't the best idea for mom as she doesn't communicate well and is unable to understand the call bell and how to ring it.  Perhaps she needs to be closer to the front or middle of the ward.  YAY!!!   That's what I was thinking but didn't want to start out complaining in the first 5 minutes.  

So she was going to try and see if someone would agree to trade rooms before Tuesday.  So that was great but it also means I can't get the room set up yet.  I did ask if it was ok if I bought a small recliner for the room so auntie and I would have something comfortable to sit in while we visited.   No problem so I did go put one on hold to be delivered this week.  

Then I went to find a pretty new comforter or bedspread.   Arrgh. What a pain that was.   Good luck finding something in a "twin bed" size for someone over the age of 12.  There was nothing but kiddy stuff.  I figured I was going to have to drive into the city Saturday morning and try my luck. But then about 11pm Friday night I remembered Amazon.   I went online and found all kinds.  I bought a very nice, cheery quilt and it should be delivered Tuesday.  

So I'm hoping that tomorrow they will have the actual room location confirmed so I can start bringing a few things in. The ambulance is transporting her Tuesday at 10:30 so that doesn't leave me much time.  I've picked out a handful of outfits for her and they are packed in the car.  I need to buy new slippers and pick out a few pictures for her room.  And I want to hook a few smallish rugs for her wall.  

Auntie and I are trying to adjust to the fact that we are getting some time back to ourselves.  We did something today we haven't done in a long time.  We went out for brunch together.  

That's what is happening here. I had thought that by tonight I would have had Mom's new room all fancied up but nothing ever happens as fast as I want.  A few more emotional days and hopefully we are embarking on a stable period.  

Simple things

The truth is I'm not very hard to please.  I have read over the comments on my last post several times and they just make me so happy.  It's so nice to know we have so many people in our corner.   I didn't get to reply to all of you but please know how much they meant to me.  

Yesterday I had the afternoon off and it was starting to snow.  I was talking to one of the nurses mid afternoon and my stomach was growling. So we got talking about how I haven't cooked a meal at home since before Christmas.  I decided I would stop at the grocery store and then go home and make a nice supper for me and auntie.  

Beef tenderloin, fried mushrooms, scalloped potatoes and peas.  Nothing fancy but oh so good.

Today one of my friends was laughing at me.  She said she's never heard of anyone so excited about having to cook their own supper!  Lol. I guess she has a point.  But I'm simple and easy to please.  :)

Tomorrow I go to fill out Mom's paperwork and I will get to see her room and meet her new roommate.   I'm excited about it.  It looks like the transfer day may be Tuesday. 

Hold on to your hats, I have good news!

Good news, and the timing of it couldn't have been better.  My Mom has a placement in a long term care facility in our town!  (Insert choirs of Angels singing here). 

The transfer date is early next week and she will be able to remain in the hospital until that time.  So that means I don't have to disrupt her and move her twice.  (I was supposed to move her home on Thursday).  And I don't have to have a hospital bed in my living room. 

I just can't help smiling.  After all the ups and downs it looks like things are turning around.  I will get to see her new room this weekend and can decide what I need to pretty it up before she moves.  I feel like a giant weight has been lifted.  

Once again I am reminded to have patience and a little faith and things will work out.  I seem to need to remind myself of this a lot ;)

 

Weekend wrap up

Sorry but I couldn't think of a more imaginative post title.  First want to thank you for all the comments and emails of support the past few days.  I'm sure everything will work out in the long run, but it would be nice to have a little down time between one crisis or another.  

Now it's time to focus on moving forward and say goodbye to that horrible, long, cold, snowy January. Hello February -- the month of hearts and love.  Our local groundhog Shubenacadie Sam was out this morning and did not see his shadow.  Early spring perhaps??  Let's hope so

This is an older photo I borrowed.  You'll notice there's no snow in this pic so you can guarantee it wasn't taken this morning :)

I finished hooking the Sassy Sunflower pillow top (pattern from Red House Wool Studio). Now I need to find a suitable piece of wool for the backing and get sewing. (My least favorite part)

And soon I can start my next project.  I joined up with Deanne Fitzpatrick's Mystery Pattern of the Month Club.  New patterns are ready on the last day of each month.  

I picked up mine on Friday.  BUT I was sworn to secrecy for a few more days and was warned not to post a picture yet until all the people receive theirs by mail.  

Hahahaha, I know the secret!  Lol. Sorry.   Now I need to get my tea and chocolates ready for tonight's episode of Downton Abbey.  I hope it's more exciting than last weeks episode.