Bea's Hive

Old Project

2012-01-24T15:13:00.000-05:00

Well I did it. I cracked my bad hip on Friday 13th just by rolling over in bed. It will heal if I stay off my feet. Pretty boring without a project and the next chicken block is 2 weeks away. I remembered putting a bag of yarn in my closet to drop off at goodwill. I pulled it out of the closet and dumped it on the bed. To my surprise it was not just yarn but an old project!

In 1994 my youngest son came home from the Marine's and bought an old truck with a not so good heater. He asked me to make him a heavy afgan to toss in the truck in case he needed it. I remember our shopping trip. I tried to lead him to a lighter color but he picked a dark blue...hard to work on.

I had it half way made...over 40 rows. I don't know why it ended being put in a bag and forgotten. I wonder if he'll remember it when it arrives in the mail...this time I will finish it!

email hacked

2012-01-17T22:52:00.002-05:00

If you get email from me, it's not from me. I've been hacked. The cable has been down all day so I didn't know it until now...please ignore any email from me. I'm waiting for Dave to come home to fix this problem in an hour....sorry

UP DATE: Dave just unhacked my account and sent out emails to those who were sent mail from me. In 15 years I've never been hacked. I've had the same password on Yahoo for all those years. Okay...now is the time to steal from me. Not much left when even my password is stolen...I feel violated.

ATTENTION: Please...if you got email from me yesterday and you clicked on items in that email...CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD... the email was not from me.

New Chicken eye

2012-01-15T11:36:00.000-05:00

This is the best I could do at Walmart. It's pretty good for now.

Chicken eyes

2012-01-13T16:28:00.000-05:00

After ripping open about 10 boxes I remembered I had put a box of embroidery thread and a needle case in my suitcase for my Pittsburgh trip. These were the ends I wrapped on cardboards because I just couldn't toss them out. There was enough colors to finish this chicken block. Many people use black to out line but I've always liked using matching thread to draw the eye to the block rather then the out line.

I kept looking at the block. The chicken didn't look back at me. I tried to picture the chicken's I had in Lancaster. It seemed to me that the chicken eye was the first thing you noticed when you looked at one. I had to google it to see if my memory was right.

For now I used a red button I found in a drawer but I need to get some yellow/orange buttons.

I want to reply to my friend Sherry. When we lived in Western Pa., it was country. Less then 70 people lived there. We didn't lock the door, remove the keys from the car or lawn tractor and never felt unsafe. When we lived in Lancaster it was considered City even though there were many farms. We lived with an open door, keys were never removed from the cars, tractors or lawn tractors and we felt very safe.

I have to give Texas an A+ for the way they handled the problem they ended up with. I never heard them mention that after they opened their arms to help the people who were effected by Katrina that they ended up with criminals, low life and people who felt they were "owed" a life. They are still suffering from the decent thing they did for these people. The ones who left after the money from the government stopped, went home. The criminals who got on those planes are still here. They have no intention of going back to a State that might find out they had been in jail when the storm hit. What makes it worse is the criminals who come across the border from Mexico. They opened their arms to the Katrina criminals. The police are left to deal with the street crime. From what I'm told by the few who own homes here, is this neighborhood was a family place until Fema put up trailors on the empty ground behind the houses. The home owners had to put bars on the windows, get an alarm system, buy guns, put lots of outside lights up, buy pitbulls and still these criminals broke down doors, stole cars, raped and even killed. Texas invited them to come here. They have taken it like you would expect a Texan to do. They could have whined to the rest of the states. Many States would have whined, but not Texas. Even on the outside edge in the best of neighborhood's where we were going to buy the house, you see bars on the windows of the houses. San Antonio is just to close to the Mexican border. I will feel bad when we leave. I loved it here until we found ourself under attack.

As far as Dave's job goes. When you are leaving, you don't quit the job you have when there are no jobs to be had. You put up with it and hope you are not responsible for a mistake, hope you don't fall asleep at the wheel on the way home. Many States have introduced bills to cover mandatory working hours but none have been voted on yet, except for nurses. Dave has written a letter to Boeings own department of employee relations which is being worked on right now. He was told yesterday that the mandatory hours are being addressed and a new policy will be put in place. Right now they could demand they work round the clock so it has to be addressed. Even when he leaves it will be on his mind that these huge flying machines are over all of our heads, our families travel on them. A responsible employee doesn't just walk away and forget what he's seen. When you see employee's sleeping on lunch break instead of eating you know the work they are doing is under stress and certainly not their best.

Dave spent his first week at Boeing learning their policies. The written policy might be in place in Seattle, Washington where there is a union, but in Texas, none of the written policies are being followed. The employee's are clearly abused. They hired the best. Even some men from Nasa. None of these men or woman have ever worked under these conditions. Many contractors are in fear because if they don't do what they are told, they will be fired and there just isn't any jobs waiting for them. These teams of people did not cause Boeing to fall behind on delivery of the planes, but they are the ones who are now being pushed to produce, no matter how they have to do it.

Anyway, I'm Dave's Mom. I am taking the mother part in this. I don't like seeing him drag himself in the door at midnight, fall into bed, only to drag himself to the table for breakfast before leaving to face another 12 hours without any relief. We know how short life can be after we lost my son Mark at age 27. People need to have a life outside of work. People need to rest their minds and bodies. No company should ever take over the life a person, no job is worth that or any amount of money. I know he likes to have the extra money so he can treat me to things and send me off to Pittsburgh where I feel safe with my medical treatment, but I'd rather be scraping for a penny then looking at a flat screen TV or having a new sewing machine if it means seeing him being abused. I'm hoping for the center of the line where we can live okay and he still has time to enjoy life.

2012...Moving on

2012-01-11T22:38:00.000-05:00

We made it through Christmas without decorations, first time in my life, and I did miss them. I bought enough things to make cookies and candy and have a nice meal on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

We decided the flat screen TV we bought for the new house would be our gift to each other since we are in the saving mode for moving. Dave had off the week between Christmas and New Years so we went shopping in the City of San Antonio, site seeing and we did the Alamo...you can't leave Texas without seeing the Alamo!

I was telling my granddaughter who is in 10th grade about our site seeing and told her we enjoyed the Alamo. She asked me...."What's the Alamo?" How sad. What's wrong with America? Our children are not being taught how the country came to be, the hardships suffered, the wars, the great people who made us what we are.

Waiting out the winter is the hardest part for me right now. We are clearing up some of the legal problems we had with the house and waiting for the winter to pass. It would be horrible to pack up and run into a snow storm on the way up north with a huge moving truck.

I missed my doctor appointment in Pittsburgh because there wasn't any reason to go with all the changing of the medicine. I'll be going in March and I hope it doesn't snow!

With everything packed I'm finding it hard to keep moving with nothing to do. If you stop moving with this disease, you might never move again. I noticed my friend Kathy was doing a sew along for the next year, one Chicken block a month. When I lived in Lancaster I had many chicken items but since then have sold or given most of them away. I decided to try and get enough sewing items together to sew along. I couldn't find my rotary cutter but did find the mat and ruler. I also found a small tote with fabric scraps and a trip to Wal Mart I was able to find several fat quarters to fill in, a box of pins and a yard of light fusible. Today I put the block together. Tomorrow I'll be on the hunt for one box of embroidery thread or I'll have to plan a trip to Jo Ann's to buy a selection of colors.

I also found some country puzzles to put together. This one I just finished. Guess I'll have to start another one while I wait for February's Chicken block to be posted.

In the mean time, Dave is having so much trouble with his job. The new announcement is 12 hour days for 90 days with no time off and the threat that if you miss a day you start chalking up points that will end in being fired. This sounds a lot like "I own you, there fore you are my Slave". I don't know how they expect men and women to work these hours without accidents and mistakes. Think about the possible mistakes...these planes carry lots of people over your head. One lost tool or bolt bouncing around in a plane can bring it down. When Dave first went for the training and interviews he was so impressed. Because of the size of the compound he saw golf carts and bikes all over the place. But he soon learned they can only be used by "Upper" management. Over the past 6 months he's seen a "few" of these Upper people drive a 14 passenager van past the lowly workers...empty. The workers who build these wonderful planes have to walk from the parking lot to the hanger at the end of the runway, back for breaks and lunch and all the way back to the parking lot at night...about 5 miles a day, no matter what the weather is. The bikes and golf carts?....sit unused. When they say Texas is a right to work State, they forget to add the employer has the right to abuse you.

Our truck was robbed again. This time we forgot to remove the rachet straps that tie down my power chair. In the morning they were gone. Without the dog I had to arm myself with pepper spray, just in case. Of course, there's always the gun, if my hands will allow me to pull the trigger.

We will make it. We are both a lot stronger then letting a few things like these getting us down. We just have to keep looking forward.

A new Plan

2011-12-06T23:46:00.001-05:00

When the going gets tough...the tough get going...even though the Texas sunshine has been wonderful for me, the rest of the dream sort of fell apart. From the lack of good doctors to a company who has mandatory work hours right out of the sweat shop days.

I had two bad reactions from the new medicine and had to stop it. The next 2 drugs on the list, and the final 2 that I could take, are not promising so I passed on them. I decided to go back to the original drug I was taking and see if being off of it for months might allow it to work again. Today I started with the first shot.

We had time on Thanksgiving to talk about life and when we actually were the happiest. I do this from the back seat because I've lived my life and it's important for Dave to lead the way. I was shocked when he said he was happier with the life we had in Lancaster, Pa. I think my heart stopped for a second and then joyfully almost jumped out of my chest! HOME, I never thought I would see home again, certainly not living there again.

The summer days of having yard sales on my front lawn with close friends, good food and lots of quiet stitching while we waited for customers.

Dave always loved his tractor, plowing my garden

and even plowing the snow

We raised pheasant

Dave installed lights on buggies

I did a lot of sewing

We had our own wagon

We did have electric but it was an Amish owned house. This was our heater..what ever went up the stairs was the only heat.

Life, the life I long to have again. The plan is in motion. We've talked to our Amish friends, a business plan is in the making and the word is out for a house. April looks like the earliest we can leave, but we are leaving by June at the latest.

Next winter I'll be listening to the clopping of the wagons passing the house.

The Elephant in the room..

2011-11-30T02:03:00.000-05:00

Did you ever watch a room full of people all talking about the same thing, walking around the elephant in the room and pretending they didn't see it?

A few days ago I lost a very young friend to that elephant. I see him. He has been a huge problem and taken a lot of lives much too early.

If you watched the Michael Jackson's Court case today, you will know the Judge saw the elephant too. The Judge was very angry. His speech to the Doctor who killed Michael Jackson was meant for doctors everywhere. Will they hear him? Some will but others will have closed their ears to his words because of greed.

The people in the room who are avoiding the elephant have decided the surgery my friend had on her stomach to take off weight was the cause of her death. It's just much easier to avoid the elephant if you can put the cause on something you can openly talk about.

I'm afraid my friends problems started long before that surgery. I think it started like most teenagers who try out drugs under the pressure of their friends. Having a family who does not deal with it but instead abandons the person when they need strong people who love them to see them through it, helps the elephant get a grip on the person.

The biggest problem when this happens is the old lady doctor who should have retired years before, but because of greed, hangs on writing one prescription after another allowing the elephant to easily take over.

This elephant stomped through my family. He took the life of my nephew before his 21st birthday. These kids soon learn to complain about everything. They search out the "feel good" doctor's who write out prescriptions with one hand and collect a fee with the other. When they out grow the strength of the drugs prescribed, they sell them on the street for stronger drugs. It's something they learn early, sometimes having doctors in many cities and even in different states.

My friend and I had one fall out after another because she couldn't help herself from using me and I couldn't help myself from hating what she was doing to herself. Even after talking against her and about her so people would stop sending her money , I would get long long emails begging me to call her. It would break me down and the cycle would start all over again.

A few weeks ago after yet another fall out, I got one of these emails. They were always so sad. She was always so sorry and so alone. We talked for 3 hours until her phone battery ran low. When I called her back the next day the phone had been shut off. I'll never know if she wanted to ask me for the money to pay for the phone bill. She didn't ask, maybe because we were having such a good chat and she didn't want another fall out.

I had a bad feeling about that phone call. She talked about death, not in a general way, but she told me what she wanted and who she wanted her things to go to. Even through her laughter I could here her voice shake. She wasn't feeling well at all. She was trying to teach me how to make my emails so no one could change them since she had gotten copies of an email I was suppose to have written and they both were different. Funny how she was worried about me and I about her.

She had finally dumped an old boyfriend who couldn't decide if he wanted his mother to take care of him or if he wanted to grow up and be her partner. She was happy, had found a new boyfriend. He seemed to really love her. He was with her when she fell to the floor and did what he could to keep her alive while waiting for the ambulance to arrive after calling 911. At least her last moments were with the person she loved. She had finally found some happiness.

I'd like to say the elephant is dead, but there will be another movie star, family member or dear friend who will meet him. The feel good doctor's will be there waiting for them.

There is no peace in knowing another life is gone much too early. She will suffer no more as Michael Jackson will suffer no more. They will not have to search for the love that was missing from their lives or the support they needed as kids and didn't get. Their struggle is over, but for us, we may find ourselves looking in the eyes of another victum of the elephant in the room.

A crazy life....

2011-11-18T23:45:00.000-05:00

Once again everything has changed. We couldn't find a rental so we went with a sale house. I've gone through the kind of realestate sales in Florida that you end up with less then you signed up for, but Texas has them beat..you might end up with more here...like taxes, water bills, and suit's against a property...and rude nasty sales people who lie and make demands with conviction.

I won't say anymore because I'm still to angry...lets just say we took most of our furniture to goodwill, packed the entire house and then had to back out because of ...well, we just backed out, period.

Wednesday was a terrible day. After the house problems, Griz, our loved dog, got so sick he could just about stand up so we had to go off to the vets to have him put down. Dave fell completely apart when we got there so I had to hold Griz...it's an awful thing to have to do to a pet who is looking into your eyes with love and trust, not knowing .... It's very up setting and something I'm having a problem with.

A few hours later we had tickets to the Willie Nelson concert. We went, but it was not an evening we could say we enjoyed. To top off my sad feelings, a vet without legs was in a wheel chair next to me. We had been sitting up front, close to the stage for almost 2 hours. As 10:30 approached and Willie was about to come on stage, people began to push in around us. I had a good view of the fat guys flannel shirt who managed to step over my feet and plant himself almost on my lap. The vet next to me had the same kind of a view as people closed in and didn't care about those of us who were stuck in chairs and couldn't see around or over them.

A few times someone would fall backwards into one of our laps. I poked the fellow in front of us and asked him if the guy next to me could get a look at Willie and use his camera...he said, "Lady, I paid for my ticket same as he did"...and he didn't move one inch. Finally, a few minutes before the concert was over the guy was pretty drunk and had to leave, most likely for the bathroom..or maybe the last call of the night for another beer...we only had a few seconds before people filled the hole where he had been, but we both got to take a few photo's. I guess that's how some people really feel about our vets. Not one person was willing to move over, not even for 2 minutes.

Mean time Dave is working 12 hour days, 12 days in a row. He's exhausted. I'm amazed that Boeing hasn't realized that exhausted workers don't produce the best they have to give. Dave doesn't complain, but I'm his mom and I see how it's breaking him down by the 8th day in a row.

We need a new plan. We need some time to sit down and talk about it but right now Dave isn't sure if he is going to get Friday off after Thanksgiving, so even making a plan has to wait. I'm not sure if I have the ambition to rip open boxes to find the roasting pan to make the turkey. We might just ignore the holidays this year. I refuse to unpack again. The TV is sitting on a plastic tote and I just don't care!

Beautiful new Calendar...we all need one of these!

2011-11-04T16:34:00.001-04:00

My friend Kathy has just come out with her new Calendar for the year. This would make a truely great Holiday gift for anyone who sews and is just pretty to look at each month.

It's a great price and can be purchased from:
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/290523/follow

You can also go to Kathy's blog to read about it:
http://www.shawkl.com/2011/11/crazy-quilt-embellishments-calendar.html

Southwestern colors

2011-11-04T08:13:00.000-04:00

I thought before I go wild and buy the wrong colors to go with the orange kitchen, I'd better find out just what southwestern color are!

Looks like they use red with orange! If I had to pick the color I disliked most it would be orange! But we came to Texas for a "new life" so it's time to put away my east coast pastels and think Sun and Bright!

Yes elsie, I did finish the boots wall hanging. I've been collecting western items, kids cowboy boots, hats spurs and some indian items. I'll take along the paint chip colors so I don't fall back to the things I am use too. Of course the easy thing to do would be to just paint the walls...but with Dave's hours and the holidays coming up that won't be happening. Maybe it's just time to let go and get with San Antonio's Mexican background!

Okay Sherrie.....LOL

2011-11-03T21:42:00.000-04:00

You have to remember where I am in Texas...Helotos is originally a Mexican area....almost every home we looked at was either painted red or orange...San Antonio has a very Mexican theme to it! I have to say I've gotten pretty used to it...it has grown on me and I don't mind it anymore. The house was built in 2006 so it's not from the seventies! Can't you just see a table runner and napkins done in brights...yellow, orange, blue....I need to get lots more cowboy stuff and some big hats from Mexico! Makes me tired thinking about it...need to take a Mexican nap under one of those hats!

Home Sweet Home

2011-11-03T16:36:00.000-04:00

I've been holding off posting to see if we got a house...WE DID! But first lets back up to the Boeing Family Day. We were not allowed to take photo's but I grabbed a few off the boeing site of their new plane that Dave is working on...The Dreamliner. Family day was fun..hot dogs and lots of planes to see, gifts and even the Boeing Traveling Store was on site to make purchases. The kids had those bubble houses to jump around in and a Giant Slide.

My new meds are working pretty good. Over the past year while the other meds were shutting down I did get some damage and it's not reverseable..so I'll live with it. I'm glad to have any relief!

We have seen so many houses, all in the right area but some too small, only one car garage, and so on. We did find one that although it's a little smaller then we wanted, it has a wonderful covered patio and lots of windows and a fireplace. This morning we got the call that we got it so we'll soon be moving...Yeah! Lot of work ahead. We have a full trailer of items to go to goodwill first of all. All the TV's with the glass screens that weigh a ton are on their way out...we got new flat screen TV's and I'll be getting new living room furniture. The kitchen is painted burnt orange! Guess I'll be sewing a lot of new kitchen items since mine are all red...what a clash that would be!

Next is the Willie Nelson gig on November 16th. Lots more packing and unfortunately, we'll have to put the dog down before we move...unless he expires on his own before then. I think he must have cancer of the stomach...he's just been so sick and Dave is having a hard time making the discision. I think he's hoping it will just happen so he doesn't have too.

I did a little on line shopping. I bought a new Bunn professional coffee maker and a Rowenta iron. Both my currant bunn and rowenta owe me nothing. I've had them both at least 8 years. Time to replace them before one morning I find us with no coffee or no ironed shirt for Dave! Moving and shopping is hard since Dave is working 12 hour days, 12 days in a row. So, I'll post as things move on over the next month. We do have 3 bedrooms so that'll give me a sewing room! We also have a formal dining room. Don't know what we'll do with that since we no longer are very "formal"!

Life moves on....

2011-10-16T11:40:00.002-04:00

You would think with only two adults in the house that we could live a very quiet life but our house always seems like a circus. Both the dog and I went down for the count over the past few weeks. I am beginning to think we both have a little cat in us.

The dog, Griz, laid for 4 days without eating or drinking. Not possible to get the medicine in him but I told Dave I didn't think it was a good idea to force it down his throat. Dave forgot you should always listen to your mother. He waited until I went to bed and tried to pry open the dogs mouth and drop the pill in the back of his throat and force him to swallow. Griz did exactly what I thought he would do...he bit him. I would have bit him too if he tried to force medicine on me. Of course his finger got infected and he had to go to the ER for a shot and meds.

The hospital did what I thought they would do, they reported it to animal control. Animal control is not the humane society. They wanted to drag this old sick dog to the pound and put him in a cage for 10 days, most likely laying in his own vomit and diarrhea. I was grateful the Vet fought for us to keep him home since he was under his care. He just got his rabies shot in April. Rabies is their concern. I thought that's why you got the shot for you pet. These things never make sense to me.

Fast forward 2 weeks, Dave is healed and Griz might have beat the widow maker. He is eating and interested in his toys, although he is thin and his eyes still look sick. Only time will tell if he makes it once again. We haven't heard from animal control. It's not like the dog was running the streets and bit a stranger. He was forced into acting vile when Dave became desparate to save his life.

I hit bottom with the Humira. It was the worse time for the dog to get sick. I could barely take care of me without having to clean up after him and try getting medicine into him. Mostly for the past 2 weeks I stayed in bed with dog laying along side of the bed. Neither of us wanted to be alone but we also didn't want to be bothered with each other.

Once again the doctor was able to get the insurance company to send out my new meds yesterday. If this medicine works I'll be grateful but I will dread every shot I have to take. The package is over-kill. I don't know if they want to be different or if they think people are toddlers who need to be protected. The package reminds me of the over sized plastic bike you buy your toddler because he can't handle a real bike. The plunger is huge and hard to handle with bad hands. It is a double tube which makes it hard to see the medicine inside. The plunger doesn't want to move. Most of all the needle itself is double the size in thickness then the Enbrel needle. I would have to have the skin of a rhino to not notice the pain the huge needle causes. Then there is the volume. Enbrel was 40 mg...Humira was 50 mg...but Cimzia is 200 mg and I have to inject two needles each time. I injected yesterday morning and waited for the second shot until late last night. I could feel the pain of the needle before I got the package open.

I had a hard time going to sleep last night. For weeks I felt like I had a sleeping sickness. That's not uncommon to be extremely tired all the time with RA. But the Cimzia seems to have given me insomnia. At least I don't have to face the horse needle for 2 weeks. I won't think about it today!

I complained about the needle size on a Rheumatoid board. The one lady said she didn't see any difference in the needle size between Enbrel and Cimzia. All I can say is she must have thick skin! The difference is like using a regular sewing needle or an upholstery needle.

Cimzia.....Enbrel

I hope I start feeling better this week. I'm sick of boxes packed all around my head. The holidays are soon here and I have nothing to keep me busy and no place to work. I'm going to have to put a push on the moving. While all this illness was taking place, Dave was changed in the middle of the week from second shift to first shift. You would think day work would be the best but not when it starts at 4: am and you have to get up at 2:am to leave by 3:am. The 10 hour day ends at 2:30 PM, giving you only a few hours to eat and get into bed by 7: PM...Dave is really suffering and his inner clock doesn't want to adjust.

Next Saturday is Family Day at Boeing. I hope I am allowed to take photo's. It will be nice to just get out of the house if I'm feeling okay.

Quick note...

2011-09-30T09:30:00.000-04:00

We finally had some good rain last night but until it started we were on fire watch because of the lightening that could have sparked flames. It's already dry again and nothing looks any greener, but while it was coming down it felt good to have some cooler air.

I got a call last night that I was approved for a new drug..Cimzia..it's a new name for me, never heard of it. Since they just sent the Humira I can't get it for a month, but at least I know help "might" be on the way.

Dave's back on mandatory over time so house hunting is off for a while.

We have been dealing with a sick dog this week. Don't know if he'll make it, he's pretty old and full of fatty tumors. Today he goes to the vet. He's had a good life. Dave will miss him. I'll miss him also although this past week has been hard since I'm having trouble taking care of myself. As sick as he's been, he still manages to greet Dave at the door when he comes home. He's been spending his days laying at my feet.

Griz

Griz with Susie at the doctor's

Sadly, still looking...

2011-09-24T21:03:00.001-04:00

I liked the house as soon as I entered the front door. It was very open and lots of room and windows. We went from the livingroom into the kitchen. I pulled the blind away from the sliding door so I could see the yard. I don't know why I decided to open the door and go into the yard, but it was a good thing I did. The second my foot hit the patio a dog in the yard next door began to bark and grawl. It wasn't just a barking dog, it was the kind of a bark a dog does when he's ready to attack. I've heard that deep throat grawl before, very aggressive. Through the spaces in the wood fence I could see a very muscular out line of the dog...a pit bull...he never stopped barking and when Dave went within 5 feet of the fence he began grawling.

Of course the realestate guy continued to do his selling...pointing out the new over sized air conditioner, trying to yell over the dog. We backed into the kitchen and I told the fellow that I would have no use of the yard with the pit bull barking all the time. I couldn't imagine letting our dog outside at all. I had a picture in my head of the dog charging through the wooden fence. Sorry, the dog was a deal breaker. I didn't spend anymore time looking at the rest of the house. He finally said, "Your right, a pit bull is just that and I wouldn't live next to one myself".

We had seen a sign for a yard sale at the end of the street. We wanted to get a feel for the area so we decided to stop at the yard sale. When we pulled up we were very sad to see yet another pit bull, standing without a leash, on the sidewalk. We drove on.

So we are back to looking. There are so few one story houses in this area. We might have to settle for a two story and hope I can manage the steps.

House Hunting...

2011-09-23T01:56:00.002-04:00

Dave thinks he found the house for us today. I get to see it Saturday. I think we'll need a weekly cleaning woman! I'll give you a peek at the photo's he took for me to see.

Family room

Kitchen

Sunken Living Room

Master Bedroom has it's own Fireplace

Yard, Patio and dead grass from the heat this year

September 17, 1997.......September 18, 1997

2011-09-17T13:12:00.016-04:00

September 17, 1997

I was cleaning up the dinner dishes when I got a call telling me if I wanted to see my son Mark alive, I should come to the hospital immediately. The next 18 hours would not only take away my son but would take away all my trust in people, my spirit, a huge piece of my heart and cause my family to scatter across the United States...guilt, fear, anger...sent us all running away from each other.

September 18, 1997

Time stopped today in 1997. Time heals all...blah, blah, blah...It doesn't! It's a bitter pill for me to look at the sunshine and remember my son Mark who loved being out side, even in the snow. Here I am a useless, broken, painful body taking up space and he's gone when he was so full of life.

Let me tell you about time. I use to talk about Mark all the time, it gave me peace remembering his smile and laugh. It kept him here and not forgotten. But time didn't round the edges, soften the pain or allow me to forgive. Time has allowed me to see how all the folks who said they loved Mark, use him for an excuse for their failure's, fight among themselves because they didn't get stuff....it's all bad how people can act in the end.

Then there is the fellow who killed my child...the one I am suppose to forgive and know that is what God asks of me. I'm afraid God will have to do the forgiving for me. I learned a year ago that this fellow managed to get transferred to the newest medical prison in Pennsylvania where there are no cells or walls...to me this is not punishment for someone who got life without parole. I've gone to the prison websites and read families calling this prison the "hotel" of prisons. Any hope of forgiveness was wiped out at the point.

The only bright spot that came out of this hell is the organ recipients, the people Mark wanted to live if he could not. It was very hard for me to sign those papers because I was against giving away parts of my child, but that is what he wanted and the last thing I could do for him. It's the only bright light, they live on and I got to meet some of them.

Yes I am often a bitter angry person. It has nothing to do with my own body pain...no, it's the pain in my heart that is there every minute I am awake and often breaks into my sleep with the voice of my son calling for me. Today I can only offer my heartbreak.

You won't have to call for me much longer son, like the eagle I will also soon be free

Willie!

2011-09-16T15:00:00.001-04:00

We all need something to look forward too, some of us need it more then others!

After searching all of the San Antonio area, we decided we wanted to look for a house in or near Helotes, Texas. While we were doing our search we stopped in Helotes at an antique store and a Honky Tonk. Floores is the Honky Tonk where many country singers got their start, Willie Nelson being one of them. We were told that he hasn't forgotten his roots and still does shows at Floores. (http://www.liveatfloores.com/

At the time I told Dave that it was most likely a local secret when he would be there, but wouldn't that be so cool to be able to see him in person.

Things haven't been going to well on the home front lately and having something to look forward to was just what I needed to march on. This morning Dave handed me this:

Now isn't this FUN! The first thing that struck me was the November 16th date. This is an out doors event. No one would be hanging out doors in Pennsylvania to see anyone sing in mid November! It sure lifted my spirits. I feel like I need to go buy cowboy boots and a hat!

Note.....

2011-09-15T14:15:00.000-04:00

Checking in Rita! We aren't taking any chances yet. We are still packed up and following the warnings about not using the out door grill or power tools, even electric mowers or weed wackers. One spark could burn acres of land. It looks like we will be getting some rain next weekend or the following week which will help. When you walk across the grass it crunches like crisp cereal. Funny how the weeds are still green and growing!

We got out yesterday to get our flu shoots and got a good look at the burnt area...black as far as you can see. It burnt between houses and mall stores, right down the center like a huge road. A little breeze would have left it jump over the road and onto the golf course where we live....lots of dead dry grass and man made ponds with no water in them. I won't say we are lucky since the rain hasn't started yet.

I can't seem to get started on any project. I have Christmas balls sitting on the table to glitter and a stack of new fabric to work with, but no desire to get myself going right now. The last few days I had to deal with the RA attacking my jaw bones. Not a good way to go on a diet! The blender is packed to move of course, so I stuck with melted ice cream through a straw.

We are okay for now, wishing that perfect house comes on the market and looking forward to rain!

Long night...

2011-09-13T14:50:00.000-04:00

It's hard to go to bed when you have flames licking at your back door. We were glad to see morning. Things always seem better when you can see what's happening. Now with the night behind me I'm going to bed! The temps are still hot and the warning that a wild fire can happen at anytime leaves us with our bags packed by the door. I tossed clothes in a bag, medicine and of course my Singer 221.

Fire!

2011-09-13T01:56:00.002-04:00

It's 1:am in the moring. Dave just got home after taking this photo a few blocks away. It's behind the shopping center next to us. We are sitting here waiting to see if we have to evacuate.

San Antonio, Texas

Just checking in...

2011-09-08T16:27:00.000-04:00

Looks like there are fires all around us here in Texas with no rain in sight yet. It has cooled down from the triple digits to a nice 96, but it's so dry with all brown grass looking a lot like it will never be green again.

My son lives along the river in Pennsylvania where they are being evacuated because the river flood walls can't hold back the water. I don't know which it worse, fire or water??

As for me, well I looked back to last August to see where I was. My friend had come to visit. We went into the city of San Antonio for a river boat ride and parked in a garage. I walked from the garage to the river ride and back again with no help. I'm sorry to say this year I wouldn't make it out of the garage even with a walker. It was last August when all of this started to go down hill in a hurry.

Next I looked back on my trip to Pittsburgh in July. I was able to make it through the entire trip with the help of a walker. It was painful but I did do it. I can't say my shopping trip this past weekend was equal to that. I found myself shaking from pain after 5 minutes and had to give up and just go home.

Yesterday I put a call into the doctor in Pittsburgh. It's pretty clear that Humira is doing nothing at all. I've taken 3 shots and over the past 3 weeks I've gotten into real trouble instead of seeing the improvement I was hoping for. The doctor is on vacation and I know he will have to do some research to find another drug that won't send my liver into failure so now I'll just wait.

This is Dave's last free weekend before he starts back on 12 days on and 2 off. He tried to set up appointments to see houses yesterday but the renters wouldn't let the realestate in so he got to see none. Maybe he should just wait to see if it starts raining before he moves us into the hill country anyway.

That all sounds pretty sad but life is really never sad, they are just the daily facts. This morning Dave's new bed arrived so tonight he'll get a good nights sleep..that's a happy thing. I'm getting pretty board with everything packed up so I bought some small second hand Christmas Balls at goodwill and found the craft box with my German Glass glitter in it. Next week this will be my project while Dave is away for so many hours. Last year our little tree looked sad without balls on it. I left those behind because of breakage but I missed them, another cheerful thing. I also managed to get fabric from Joann's Fabric to enter their contest even though I don't like contests it will give me something to do. I may never send it in but with a date looming overhead it will force me to do it instead of just sitting here watching movies all day. Working with Fabric is always a fun thing.

I looked into Senior Centers but there aren't any here. They seem like adult day care centers and that's not what I'm use to. I was looking for one that took day trips or even a bus company that had day trips but that just isn't something they do here. Back home they have day trips to Casino's, flower shows, art museums and even trips to New York City for the shows. I could do these kind of trips. They are mostly sitting and looking like the day we went to the Zoo. I do have a power chair and walker. But that's not a Texas thing.

As for the neighborhoods here in Texas, people don't live outside, it's very strange. In the past year I've seen the children next door get in the car a few times, but they never play outside. In all the neighborhoods we have looked for a house in, we haven't seen any people outside. People are seen in the Mall, but not outside their homes...very strange. To tell you the truth, I'd move back to Lancaster, Pa. in a heart beat. But, that's not gonna happen and the heat is so much better for me. Even if Texan's don't go outside, I do...I bet they think I'm a strange old bird!

A month has passed....

2011-08-31T16:21:00.000-04:00

It's been a month since I took the first shot of Humira. Today they delivered the next round of shots. The improvement is slight, very slight. But, I'll give it another month before I judge the results. I'm still getting a lot of break through flare ups. I've decided I'll never go back 3 years to feeling good again. There is just too much damage this time. It's better to face the facts then to hope when there isn't any. I'm just pushing on and doing what I can do each day. It'll take more then pain and flares to stop me from living.

It's been a month of temperature's that were over 100 daily and as hot as 111 a few days ago. I took those nice hot days to hose down and scrub all the outside furniture, shovels and yard decorations for the up coming move. We did look at one home this month. It was in the right zip code but much too small. This is going to be harder then I thought. The area we want to be in is pretty new. Lots of young people with kids so the houses are mostly 2 story homes. The realestate suggested a 2 story with the master bedroom on the first floor but since I would be the one to clean and deal with laundry that just wouldn't work for me.

In the mean time the house we are trying to live in is a mess with boxes all over the place. The property manager raised our rent because we wouldn't sign a new lease and has refused to respond to our calls to repair the damage that was done with the flood from next door. We still have an open wall where the plumber cut out the dry wall. I'm just hoping the air conditioner keeps working. I have a feeling since he knows we are moving he is just not going to do any repairs for us. Texas is NOT one of the 38 states that have laws for the renter. I'm sure we'll have a problem getting back our deposit of $1000.00 when the time comes and he'll most likely blame the flood on us so he has a reason to keep the money. But, I'll deal with that when the time comes.

Sewing has come to a halt with everything packed up. I've been watching a lot of old movies to take up the day. Nothing like watching White Christmas in 106 degree heat! We are afraid to even start up the grill with everything so dried out and the yard has a huge split down the center. It looks like maybe the water or sewer pipes run where the ground has opened up.

This weekend we are going shopping for some nice, on sale, yard furniture. This is my stocking up weekend. I've ordered 2 new swim suits on line and talked Dave into getting a new mattress. The day we arrived in Texas a year ago we stopped at a mattress center and bought beds so we would have something to sleep on. They weren't the best beds! If you are going to work as hard as Dave works you need a good nights sleep and sturdy shoes that fit right. I replaced my bed last month. It's wonderful! He'll be so surprised, after he sleeps on a good mattress one night, just how good he feels.

This week will be cooler so I'm going to work on the garage. We want a house with a double car garage this time. We have so many projects we enjoy and no room to work on anything here. I never got my doll houses put back together but I'm looking forward to doing that in the next house. Dave wants to put a new skin on his antique canoe and he's restoring another old bike. I have a lot of scrapbooking supplies, oil painting and one tote filled with wood carving,that I had just started to learn how to do, all sitting for the past year in a garage where there is no room to work. I keep looking at my power craft saw I dragged along and wonder if I'll ever get to use it again. I miss seeing my things. It'll be great just to be able to look through the boxes again.

Time to make the soup

2011-08-08T18:18:00.002-04:00

I had some trouble finding the right ingredients in Texas, but I found replacements that will work. There is a lot of chopping and cutting so it's best to get all that done and ready first to make the job easier.

1 Leek, use only the white and light green part. Cut it in quarters and then slice it in 1/4 inch pieces.
1 Bunch Kale, after steaming it, remove the large stems and cut it into 1/2 inch slices across the leaves.
1 Cabbage, core it and slice thin about 1/4 of the head.
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
2 Carrots and 2 Celery stalks, cut on a slant into 1/2 inch pieces.
7 Red skinned potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces.
1 Zucchini, cut into 1/2 inches pieces.
1 cup Fresh green beans cut on an angle in 1 inch pieces.
1 Large can plum tomatoes, chopped
Rind of Italian cheese, prosciutto heal or substitute
Salt and pepper, bay leaf, pinch of crushed red pepper and vegetable stock

Start by preparing the Cannellini beans. I couldn't find dry Cannellini beans so I used a can of Goya Brand Beans plus the juice. If you have dried beans, cover them with water by 2 inches in a bowl and refrigerate for 12 hours. Drain and bring 8 cups of water to a boil, add beans, 1 large onion, bay leaf. Boil about 1 hour, drain and remove the onion and bay leaf. Keep one cup of the bean water to use in the soup. If you use dried beans, of course you would have to make them the day before along with the stock.

Minestrone soup starts with a base called Soffritto.You will need 1/3 cup of good Olive Oil, 1 large piece of celery, 1 carrot and 1 large onion, cut all very fine. In a stock pot, heat the oil on low, add the veggies and cook until golden brown, stirring often.

Add leek and garlic, cook about 5 minutes until soft. Add the veggies, celery, carrots, potatoes, green beans, and zucchini. Cook until golden about another 5 minutes.

Now add the juice from the beans and 1 large can of plum tomatoes that you have chopped, cabbage, kale, stock, cheese rind, pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and a bay leaf.

It's time to add the prosciutto. I always buy the heal of the meat for soup but in Texas I couldn't find one. I did find sliced slow aged so I rolled it and tied it..and added it to the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat and cook for 1 hour.

If you use dried beans you would now add them and cook about 1 more hour or until all the beans and veggies are done. With the canned beans I had to use, I cooked my soup for 15 minutes longer and added the canned beans cooking for an added 10 minutes. I removed the cheese rind but left the prosciutto for flavor.

Tomorrow I'll add some Italian bread toasted in the oven with garlic butter. This recipe makes about 8 bowls of soup.

Lets make some Veggie Stock for Minestrone soup

2011-08-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

First we have to start with the vegetable stock. It's much better if you make it and keep it in the refrig over night.
You will need 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil, 1 large onion (dice half and keep half whole), 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots (cut the celery and carrots to about 1/2 inch pieces) 2 or 3 garlic cloves sliced thin, fresh parsley, basil, thyme and 1 bay leaf. Peppercorns (about 1/4 tsp.) and coarse salt.

Heat oil and add chopped onion until it's carmelized (10 or 15 minutes). Add the veggies and cook until tender (10 minutes).

Add 10 to 12 cups of water, herbs, peppercorns, onion half and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cook 1 hour.

Set pot in sink in cold water. When cool, pour through a sieve into a refrigerater container. Press the juice out of the veggies and discard them.

Refrigerate stock overnight.

At Last the medicine arrived!

2011-08-08T03:06:00.001-04:00

Friday morning I couldn't take it anymore so I called the insurance company again. I explained to them that I was suppose to refill my medicine on July 18th at a cost of $3000.00 to them. I thought I was doing the right thing by not filling it because I knew on July 21st I would be changing medicine. I thought it was cost effect for Medicare and for them. I thought I was doing the responsible thing knowing almost all of the medicine would end up dumped. Even though it wasn't working well, it was keeping me out of some pain but now since I was being put off on the new drug I had no back up medicine at all. The girl on the other end listened. She checked the computer and saw that I had not refilled my meds in mid July. Saturday morning I got a special delivery shipped.

The medicine is shipped in a huge box because it must be kept cold and kept from freezing at the same time.

Here it is, two little pens filled with what might be magical for me, or not. These 2 pre filled pens will cover 28 days and by then we should know if it's working.

This sheet is filled with the smallest print I've ever seen. It starts out "Things you should know about Humira before starting it." This sheet is filled on both sides. I'd need a very stong magnifying glass to read it and since I have no choice, maybe I'm better off not being able to read it.

This sheet is also printed on both sides. It's directions on how to inject the medicine. Since I've been using the regular old fashioned needle this was a help. I used the photo's to direct me because again the print was so very tiny.

You would think they had said everything there is to say about the product but they managed to add a booklet with 15 pages of more directions and warnings.

This is Dave's weekend off so I was glad to have him home when I took the first shot. Sometimes things go wrong with a new med, like not being able to breath, and I didn't want to be alone when I took it for the first time. We had so much to do this weekend. Food shopping was first on the list but I took the shot and waited. It did make me a little dizzy and sick in the stomach but after an hour or so I felt fine. We got done what we could and even managed to buy a new larger bed for me. I have no idea what made me think I could sleep in a single bed with six pillows to support my limbs. With the house being so small I just thought at the time the smaller the better. I have suffered with the width of this bed for a year..it was time to get a bigger one!

Tonight I am having a major flare up in my shoulders. I hope it's a sign of the meds and the disease having a war and not a sign that it's not going to work. Only time will tell that, so it's a wait and see for now.

Since I can't sleep, I'm going to make some Minestrone Soup with a recipe from back home in Philadelphia...It comes from an old neighbor from Italy and it's super good. If I get the stock done tonight, it'll be easy to finish it tomorrow. Today we found an HEB grocery store that carries Italian cheese rinds and slow aged Prosciutto so it should taste like home.

Finished the table runner

2011-08-04T16:04:00.000-04:00

This was a fast project and maybe we'll be moved by the time fall comes.

Still Waiting....

2011-08-03T17:09:00.001-04:00

Not sure just what Congress did, but they did continue paying Medicare for now. Of course, I'm still waiting and looks like that might continue since they are way behind in filling drug requests.

I've tried to be quiet with my suffering but I can't control crying out in my sleep. The very last thing I wanted to do was wake Dave up after the long hours he's working. He can't do anything for me right now. I just have to keep taking pain killers and wait. But early this morning I woke him and I feel really bad about that.

This morning I lost it on a young fellow at the insurance company. I know he was reading from a program to handle people who are demanding attention and they won't give any. I just don't think the smart ass attitude goes too well with people who are suppose to be dealing with sick people. After he repeated for the 6th time that I need to read the booklet provided to me in January, I lost it. You mean the 150 page book, I asked. Fellow, you apparently have never suffered extreme pain. You can't think, focus on anything but the pain, your vision is blurred from it..NO, I haven't read it and don't intend to READ it. The out break might have put me on the bottom of the list of unfilled prescriptions.

Some day this fellow will be looking in the eyes of his mother, sister, wife, child who is crying out for help while an insurance company youngin almost laughs on the other end of the phone. Only then will he know how desparate I am. I hope when the day comes for him, he remembers back to his own lack of compassion. He might even find himself dealing with horrible pain and know he could get rid of it if only someone got the medicine filled and sent out to him.

Dave got me some supplies for quilting to try and help me get through this. Under the influence of Vicodin I set out a few days ago to put together a cute Halloween table runner. It's for me so it doesn't have to be perfect, it's just one of those projects that will sit on the table and everyone will say it's cute and never look at the quilting. I have to say it has helped. I watched 2 movies and can't tell you anything about them, but this little project for some reason is going together pretty quick and I'm even enjoying doing it.

Medicare D...playing games

2011-07-29T15:18:00.000-04:00

I was so excited to get my new medicine approved by my doctors! Hold on, Congress holds the money for Medicare D and the insurance provider's aren't taking any chances by the looks of it.

For 2 days I've tried to reach WellCare a division of Walgreens, my Medicare D provider. When they didn't answer the customer Service line I tried the Provider Line. Looks like both lines are shut down for now. That means I can't get the new medicine or even the old medicine. Guess they are afraid they won't get paid.

For now I was able to get the Prednisone and Pain medicine filled and that will have to hold me over until Congress stops playing games and gets on with it! It's not the Social Security checks that will bring down people, it's the lack of medicine, those who have cancer, diabetis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and many other painful or life threatening diseases.

This President and 80% of both sides of Congress need to be put out to pasture. How could they let this happen to the people? If your listening.....I CAN'T WALK DUE TO THE LACK OF THE PROPER MEDICINE..I'M IN TERRIBLE PAIN..AWFUL PAIN..HORRIBLE PAIN, and now because you have played games with the peoples money, spent it like drunken sailors, I will have to kill my liver and heart with Prednisone. This is not the AMERICA, the UNITED STATES that I was born into.

Mother's with mental illness

2011-07-25T16:36:00.000-04:00

I think most of us have been shocked by the Casey Anthony court case in recent weeks. Most people have mothers who love them so it's so unreal to think of a mother who could get rid of her daughter. Unfortunately this happens more often than you know because it happens in a less violent way.

I've searched for answers about my mother who was good at presenting herself as a mother who loved her daughter to those looking on...almost like a play or story she made up. Behind the curtain the demon came out. She suffered from a mental illness that most people don't even know about. Narcessistic Personality Disorder is a person who loves themself extremely and cannot connect to any other female who might step in front of her, even her own newborn.

Before she died at age 83, she told me she hated me the day I was born because my father stopped loving her and only had eyes for me. She said she didn't want the competition in her life. She didn't kill me but what she did was just about the same because it killed me inside. She ignored me, locked me away, gave me away.

By the time I was 3 she had managed to make a small child into a child with no expression, sad, lost and had killed the connection to my father who was not allowed to show any love towards me. I can only remember small flickers of what happened to me but when I look at this photo I know all possibilities of happiness were already gone.

I don't think she ever hit me, but what she did in words and lack of touch was so much worse. I spent a life time seeing mother's and daughter's who loved each other wondering why I couldn't have just one day to know what that felt like. It was painful all my life. When I got that phone call my mother had found herself alone, old and she needed me to take her in and pamper her because without constant praise she fell apart. It gave me the chance to just ask her why she did this to me and why she couldn't love me. Her answer confused me at first and made me angry that I had suffered a life away because she was jealous of a newborn.

Since then, I have been able to deal with it as a mental illness that she couldn't help, and even if she had mental help along the way, there is no cure for this personality disorder. I'd like to say I forgive her at the end of my life, but I haven't gotten there yet. I wonder who I would have been if I had the natural love of a mother. In the end, my brother who she loved and covered him with everything I wanted, ignored her and in his own selfish way, left her to die alone. I don't know him because she cut us off as siblings in the very beginning.

When everyone was saying Casey Anthony killed her child so she could party, I knew that wasn't the case. She did just what my mother did. She dressed me up and in front of everyone she was the perfect Mom while all the time her hate was so great she was planning a way to end the competition. As sad as it is to think of this beautiful child gone from life, she won't suffer at the hands of a mother who just can't love her, who looks at her with hate and a heart of ice. I'm not sure which is worse, death or living with it. No one can help us when we end up with a mother who has a Naressestic Pesonality Disorder because they hide it so well while they are sucking up the praise that comes with being a good Mom. Casey couldn't just give Caylee over to her mother because she would have lost her mothers praise and love. I'm sure Casey was thinking her mother should have been the one behind bars because it was her fault...the fault of loving anyone more then Casey.

I don't know what happened to my mother. She was the middle child of 8, lost in the center between the babies who got attention and the older sister who was beautiful. I was told by one of her sister's that while they learned to stitch she went off with the boys to the swimming hole. She also was the only one who left home at an early age to a city far away. Was she born like this or did it happen to her at an early age? I am trying to understand this and hope I find a way to forgive her.

Pittsburgh

2011-07-22T04:39:00.002-04:00

I never get a window seat but this time the plane was full and I had no choice. I have to say I really enjoyed the sun coming up and the beautiful clouds.

I was never so exhausted when I arrived in Pittsburgh. First time I stayed at this hotel right in the heart of all the Medical Centers. This will be my Hotel from now on. It has it's own restaurant and each room has a balcony. Before heading to my room I grabbed a bag of food because I knew after I hit the room nothing was going to make me leave.

The sandwich was Tomato, cheese and spinach with an expresso and cherry pastry which I ate first..sweets are a real weakness! I limped onto the balcony and took photo's of all the Medical Centers surrounding the Hotel.

It was just past noon but it felt so good slipping into my Pj's and sliding into bed where I stayed until 4 in the morning! It always takes hours to get my body going in the morning but by 8:am I was ready for a breakfast sandwich and another sweet pastry before packing up and heading to the RA Center.

Back in December they were busy taking down the old Children's hopital and expanding the parking. The new construction sticks out set in the center of the older buildings.

Pain does terrible things to the way you look in general. I realized this when my doctor walked into the room, put his arm around me and said, "Why didn't you call me". We had a good talk and he noted all the new huge nodules on most of my joints. This makes it really hard to walk when you have marble sized nodules on your heels and toes. Clearly the RA was being pretty agressive, but I already new that. We talked about the hip surgery and back surgery I was suppose to have but the bone density tests showed the lack of good solid bone to work with...I had already decided not to have the surgeries because of this after doing some of my own research on the problems that could happen if I went forward with it. Controling the pain will be a problem but I've been dealing with that for sometime now. Compared to the RA pain it's really nothing.

After he checks with the liver specialist we hope to start a new round of medicine in a week. With liver disease I am limited to what drugs I can take for RA. Next visit in October I'll need to see the Liver Doc and the Kidney Doc. By the way, my RA doc is a Hottie! He's so bookish I don't think he even realizes it! My liver doc is Arab. He looks like a movie star. East Coast doctors are just so professional looking, scrubbed and suited up in the lastest shirts and ties with starched white lab coats...I think you see this in University Hospitals in the east more then anywhere else.

Because UPMC is a teaching hospital I always allow the students to examine me. They ask hundreds of questions relating to the disease. I had to sign to allow them to read my file and see my test results. After all the Xrays and blood tests I stepped outside of the hospital door and grabbed the Airport bus.

This is a very strange bus. The seats fold up to make room for suitcases. It was packed with students sitting atop of all the back packs and luggage. They all were busy on cell phones or other new pads of one kind or another. The bus is equipped with computer access! I didn't have my camera handy but it would have made a neat photo..next time I'll remember to not pack the camera!

I flew out on American Airlines and back on Delta. I can see why AA has put in a rush order to replace it's ageing aircraft. The plane from San Antonio to Atlanta was in poor condition. I felt very uneasy until it landed. The next plane was newer but also aged. Coming back I had upgraded seating that was well worth it and I really needed the extra space after the past two days. My ankles were swollen so bad I had to wrap them with elastic bandages before boarding the plane. I don't even know how I managed to get off in San Antonio. I'm sitting here with both ankles and feet wrapped in ice packs.

I hope the insurance company just puts the new order through. It shouldn't be a problem since the new drugs cost half of what they are putting out right now. It'll take 3 to 4 weeks to see if the new meds are helping..what do they say? It has to get worse before it gets better!

Trips are exhausting!

2011-07-18T20:16:00.001-04:00

I think I'm almost ready for the Pittsburgh trip, but will I have the strength to get on the plane! I went through my check list: wash, ironing, packing, moping, change the linens and cook.

I just popped the chicken for Wednesday's dinner in the roaster and that leaves veggies to bake tomorrow. I made lunch box cupcakes and graham cracker pudding cups. If I'm lucky I'll get my hair and nails done tomorrow and a long nap before being picked up by the yellow cab at 4:am Wednesday.

I hope I'll bring a miracle home but if not, at least I plan on bringing home some good Italian breads and baked goods!

Dave likes his chicken hot and spicy

And then there is the "reminder lists" so I don't have to call home!

Forgot to mention we spent Sunday looking at neighborhoods and houses. We are leaning toward an area called Helotes, kind of pricey but safety is the main factor and it looks like we'll have to pay a price for that. There is an old time cowboy bar in Helotes where Willy Nelson started out. They told us he sometimes does a Saturday night..now that would be fun.

Dinner

2011-07-12T19:32:00.000-04:00

Dave's working hours have changed everything in the house. Dinner is now at noon and he packs his sandwich for his evening meal at work. He's found the area he is taking his certifications in is just too far away from the main area and he likes sitting outside to eat. Since he leaves at 1:pm and doesn't get home until midnight I have found myself starting dinner at 9:am..rolling out of bed to prepare and cook.

Today I decided to cook tomorrow's dinner so all I'll have to do is heat it up. Of course I'll have to peel potatoes for mashed and whip up some cream for the pie, but that I can handle.

I made stuffed peppers and strawberry pie...I had to taste the pie just to make sure it was good and sweet!

Talking about life's ugly things...

2011-07-05T19:14:00.001-04:00

I started this blog for my quilting but it has become the place where I want to keep my thoughts for my son. After covering my Rheumatoid Arthritis the next subject that no one likes to face is death. I feel like I need to explain my wishes so in the future my son is not judged as a cold person. He will be doing exactly what I have asked.

I've mentioned in my profile that I have liver disease. I have to go back to 1979 to explain this. After having huge children I needed bladder surgery, something that is not uncommon for women to have. My surgery didn't go to well when the doctor cut into a vein and I almost bled to death. I was given 2 units of blood after the surgery. Years would past before I had to look back on that time. Back then I was living in Philadelphia and remember seeing signs put up by the redcross offering $10.00 if you gave blood. I remember laughing with friends about it, saying we knew who would be collecting the money...street people. Back then, blood was not screened. It wasn't screened until 1992.

Moving ahead to 2002 when I had the first signs of RA, one of the questions asked was if I had ever had a blood transfusion. Before giving you any of the strong drugs for RA, first they give you a blood test for any liver problems. Unfortunately, my test came back with a positive for Hep C. I knew that was bad but I didn't really understand what the disease was. It wasn't long before I realized that the transfusion in 1979 was actually a death sentence. Many people walk around with this disease for 20 or 30 years not knowing they were infected with it from a past transfusion. By that time you usually have liver damage. I want to blame it on the FDA, but what's the use of blaming anyone when nothing can be done, it's just too late.

This is a dirty disease. Besides people who got it unknowly from a transfusion, a big part of the Hep C population is druggies. The very people I would never have in my life, those I looked down on..the dirty bunch of awful human's....I was now one of them. I still have a hard time dealing with this. How careful I was all my life, doing the healthy things, being the good, nice person. How could this dirty disease get into my blood. I've had no choice but to face it head on, live with it, be sick from it but I'll never get use to it.

My son Dave has not let me down one day. He has seen me through some pretty awful times the past few years. Shortly after we arrived in Texas I took a down hill slide. I thought after going to Pittsburgh last December I would feel better, but it only lasted a short time. Again I am hopeful that my next visit to Pittsburgh this month will make good changes but that might not happen.

When you feel this sick if you have any concern for the person with the responsibility of carrying out your wishes, this is the time to do it. If I told Dave I want to be buried back in Philadelphia with my son, he would make sure that happened. I don't want that. Going back to the Hep C, I have felt dirty from the second I knew what it was. I have told Dave to have an undertaker cremate me and he is NOT to take home my ashes. It just goes through me to think of this disease and know he would have to do something with my ashes. I know burning would clean away the disease, but to me, it just turns my stomach. Whatever they do with left over ashes is fine with me.

I know there will be people who say he is cold and should not do that to his mother. It's my wishes and it's written here for anyone who doubts that. He knows the second I die my soul will go to heaven and this is just a body it lived in, a dirty body with a horrible disease. He can have his own words with God, he doesn't need an audience to do that.

No I'm not ready to die yet. I hope this next round of drugs will make me feel better. But it's pretty clear today that I'm getting worse and now was the time to add this to my blog for him, for those who may want to judge him for my other son's who I've not talked about this with.

Remembering Glenn....

2011-06-28T19:20:00.000-04:00

Today I started packing up the small things in my bedroom, starting with the jewelry box. When we moved to Texas a lot of items were packed into boxes without tossing or donating items I didn't use. The bottom drawer of the case held many tiny boxes I hadn't opened since I got sick and couldn't wear rings anymore.

I opened a box that held my son Mark's ring and a ring that had been given to him by my cousin Glenn. It took me back in time wondering why people were so cruel back then when it came to children who were not "perfect".

Glenn was a year older then I was. I didn't really know my family too well but Glenn was a cousin who I really liked even though we rarely saw each other. As the story goes, at birth they knew Glenn wasn't "right" because his head was large. The first time I remember being with him was when we were about 5 and 6 years old. He was twice the size of me, wore very thick glasses and talked very slow. That day we were allowed to hold a baby chick. When it was his turn, after many warnings from my aunt not to squeeze it, he held it for a long time with his hand open. Then he brought it to his lips to kiss it and forgot and closed his fingers on it and squeezed the life out of it. Every adult yelled at him, mean things. He crawled under the wooden porch and cried for hours with me along side of him.

Glenn never learned to read or write but he was much smarter then I was from listening to the radio all the time. Ask him anything about the world and he could give you a history lesson for hours. Glenn didn't seem to ever stop growing. His mother had to knit him mittens for a hunting trip in Canada. He always enjoyed his size. I remember him telling me to put both my feet into one mitten and see how big they still would be.

I don't know why Glenn was so happy all the time. His father refused to recognize him as a son and his mother suffered because she produced him. They hid him as much as possible until he was too old and just showed up when he wasn't suppose to.

My Uncle had Green houses and a roadside flower stand in the little mountain town they lived in. Glenn grew up to do much of the work, hauling dirt and tending to the coal heater fires in the winter to keep the plants warm. He did it always with a smile on. He spent most of his life alone except for a brother who adored him until his life was lost on the job at a very early age. After his mother died he took a lot of verbal abuse from his father.

Glenn had diabetis and no one cared to prepare meals for him that were healthy. He was not only huge but was way over weight. He had a lot of trouble with his feet, and wore shoes much too small for his feet. He heard an ad on the radio for a hospital in Philadelphia that did surgery on diabetic feet and was able to save people from the loss of toes. I was living outside of Philadelphia at the time. He got another cousin to call me and ask if I would help him get to this hospital and have surgery before he ended up with no toes and unable to walk.

At the time my son Mark and I were living together. Glenn arrived on the bus, had the surgery and spent weeks in bed recovering at our place. He and Mark became very close. There was no subject Glenn couldn't talk about and Mark enjoyed every second of it. Before Glenn left, he insisted Mark keep his ring. I remember back when the ring was being made. After sending a strip that went around his finger to a jeweler in New York several times the fellow finally drove to the mountain town in disbelief of the ring size to measure the finger himself. I think Mark ended up with the ring because Glenn had found a friend who really was a friend. Mark adored him and hated knowing we were sending him back to live in a home where he wasn't loved but was used for his brute strength. Glenn didn't live to see age 50.

When I was packing up Mark's things after his death, I found the ring wrapped in a piece of velvet in Mark's treasure box. I remember adding Mark's own ring and putting it in this little box. I didn't get any packing done today. It was a good memory knowing that when I finally leave earth myself I not only will be out of pain but I'll be with the people I love and miss.

Here is Glenn's ring, Mark's ring and my ring:

The quarter is smaller then the ring

Be Careful what you wish for.....

2011-06-24T17:29:00.001-04:00

or...If it looks too good to be true, it most likely is. These came to me early this morning when Dave arrived home from work.

Dave gets in around midnight. We usually sit and talk with a snack until he winds down from his day. This morning he came in the door and said, "I have good news and bad news". The good news was he would have a lot of money each pay day. The bad news was the schedule he had been given...10 hour days, 12 days on 2 days off.

It took me right back to my early days in the Beauty business. I would open the beauty shop at 7:30 in the morning and close at 10:30 at night, 6 days a week. Some Saturdays I would open at 5:am because of an early morning wedding.

Dave's early years were spent in the beauty shop. I would bring him in for dinner until bedtime and almost all Saturdays. He often sat under a hair dryer pretending he was going to the moon. This is not a good way to raise a child and I was burnt out in just a few years.

All night, things like Union's and sweat shops went through my mind. Having only 4 days a month off is not a life. What good is thousands of dollars a month when you have no time to enjoy useing it....

The next 30 days will tell the story. Seventy some men went home last night with shattered dreams of a better life knowing that money will not always provide that. When earning it means living in the job. I'm worried. I saw a happy man go to bed broken.

Couldn't move without a mess

2011-06-21T18:48:00.000-04:00

It's been a hard two weeks. I mostly stayed in bed or on the sofa. Late last night Dave walked into his bedroom and stepped onto a flooded carpet. I know all too well that water travels so before we settled down for the night, we had to move everything out of half the room and hope that was enough for the night.

It looked like the pipes to the tub were leaking so when the plumber came he cut out the wall in the bedroom. Nope, no leak, just lots of water under the tub. He decided the water was coming from the house connected to us. Upon examining the house next door, he found the air conditioner unit was frozen, had defrosted over and over and this was sending the water to our house. I'm wondering how the neighbor didn't notice the air conditioner wasn't working when it's been over 100 degree's for at least 2 weeks.

They sent in a fellow to suck up the water on the carpet and now it will take a few weeks for the area to dry before they can replace the wall.

Finally finished the French Braid, washed it and packed it for the move

I've decided to wait to do the Flower Quilt until after we move. There's just too much to do, too many trips to Pittsburgh and too much packing, not to forget we haven't had one day to look for another place yet.

Explaining Rheumatoid Arthritis

2011-06-07T22:49:00.001-04:00

I've never tried to explain the disease because it's so different for everyone who has it. I've had people say, "oh I have that too", but having swollen hand joints is not RA. I'm going to try and explain it because recently many people have questioned me on what I have and why I can't just get it fixed.

They don't know what causes it and have no cure for it. They do have a ton of medicines to treat it because you can take one medicine for a time and one day it just stops working. RA does not only attack the bodies joints, it attacks the heart, eyes, lungs, kidney's and in many people it causes emotional problems, sometimes brought on by the disease and sometimes the medicines.

When the medicines fail they put you on Prednisone to get you back on track. This is an awful medicine but one that is a must for RA patients. Prednisone makes you shakey, you can't sleep, you are hungry all the time and it changes your personality. It hides the disease for a short time giving the doctors time to decide what to try next. Some people are on a maintenance dose of 5mg all the time. I have other diseases so I can only use it when there is nothing else working but it's usually at a high dose of 30 to 40 mg and I only take it for a short time. It makes me crazy, angry, miserable and I can't focus on anything. Trying to put a meal together becomes impossible because I can't remember from one minute to the next what I am doing.

I am on an injectable that up until six weeks ago, I injected once a week at a cost of $1500.00 a month. One morning I woke up an couldn't move, sit up, bend my legs or turn my neck. The pain, on a scale of 10, was 10. My RA doctor increased the injectable to twice a week at double the cost. It was a real fight to get the insurance company to pay their share. For the past month I've been pretty good again until last week. I didn't bother to call the doctor. He's in Pittsburgh and I'm here in Texas. I have an appointment with him on July 20th and at this point the meds need to be changed to another product. This is always hard because of my other disease's and the insurance company always gives me a hard time.

For now I'm living with both ankles, feet and wrists wrapped in elastic wraps, taking pain medicine, mostly laying in bed. I'm trying to endure the pain and not take the dreaded Prednisone. I don't want to be around me when I take it and I hate putting my son through it.

Even my RA doctor has asked me what the pain feels like. It's hard to discribe. When I move my arm it feels like the joint is exploding. I have the constant feeling of having the flu, chills, fever and full body ache's. My son has wrapped me up in every blanket in the house to try and stop the shakes but I'm not really cold, it's coming from somewhere inside. RA has damaged my kidney's, liver and recently my eyes. When I fall asleep in this kind of pain, I'm always surprised I'm still alive when I wake up.

Because I have liver damage and liver disease, I know my liver is dying. Doctor's today don't let you forget. If I complain about all the foods that make me sick, the doctor will remind me that it's from the bad liver and remind me that the liver cleans everything that goes into the body..and mine is no longer working. I don't know when it will kill me. I could dye from natural causes but just knowing I'm living on borrowed time is something I have to face everyday. Yep, there are days when I just have a good old fashioned crying towel party with myself. It never lasts long. I am glad to have today and I try not to worry about tomorrow.

I hope this helps to clear up Arithritis in the hands and the killer disease RA. When you have RA your life has been shortened by 5 to 7 years.

Checking in

2011-06-07T17:42:00.000-04:00

Dave is on his second week of work. First week was training on what employee's need to know. The next 5 weeks will be training and certification. He can't tell me too much about his job but he does share the neat things.

According to him, the lunchroom has fabulous food at great prices. The Boeing compound is huge so to get around they have 3 wheel bikes with large baskets or for those who don't want to do the work themself, they have golf carts all over the place.

Anything that comes in video learning is done in the movie room where they also have an old fashioned popcorn machine..the kind on wheels with the handle the vender would push it around with. How cool is that!

All the newbies are on second shift for the training. That I was glad for since the Rheumatoid Arthritis decided to freeze my hands, shoulders and ankles. I was very happy when Dave left at 2:pm and I could just crawl back in bed and not have to push to look cheerful when the pain was taking every breath away.

Sunday I did manage to make a trip to a thrift store while Dave headed to the mall to buy slacks. I got a book for my trip to Pittsburgh in a few weeks and if I don't lock it away in my suitcase, I'll have it read. I also found a few new packs of small projects for the fall and winter.

That's about it for today. I was on my way to get some ice packs for my wrists and decided I needed to check in...so it's back to bed, without the book this time!

Oh, and the move...seems there are 60 new employee's who are also looking for a place to live. Right now they are on short leases or renting rooms. One fellow from Austin rented a house but he's sleeping on the floor until his wife arrives with the furniture at the end of the month. Some of the fellows are from the space center in Florida. Seems like Dave is the only one who lives in San Antonio. As soon as things settle down, Dave is going to talk to the company resource person as this seems to be the place all the other fellows are getting their housing info from. I just hope I get a lot better in a hurry or he'll be on his own to pack up the rest of the house. I can't let that happen. Moving is one of the hardest jobs in life.

First Day alone in 14 months

2011-05-31T06:56:00.000-04:00

Gee, it feels so odd to be alone in the house! Dave and I often didn't see each other all day, but we did talk on Facebook and send emails...funny since we were only one room away from each other.

Today, Tuesday 31st, Dave started at Boeing. He was excited when he left at 5:am this morning. I know he'll have a great day. He won't be able to share anything he is doing but it's pretty easy to see when someone is happy with their job and themself.

The country is having awful weather, even northern Texas is getting awful storms. Here in San Antonio we have no water and we are restricted to a sprinkler on Monday's for 2 hour use. Of course that water has to be used to water the foundation of the house so it doesn't move off it's slab. First thing to do today was to hand water my flowers. Dave spent the last few days putting down kill for the fire ants. Since last weekend the center of the yard has split open.

The packing is going slow. You would think I would be use to it by now, but this time I'm hating it. Yep, I want to move where it's safe, but I'm tired of moving and this time it's not an adventure.

I also tried to sandwich the homespun French Braid Quilt. I might have to hand quilt this one. Homespun has a mind of it's own and the more you move it, the more it seems to grow. Just noticed the bags hanging on the tote. They are some herbs I'm drying.

The goal is to finish the French Braid and the Flower Quilt so they will be new for the move. I keep getting side tracked. I have to go to Pittsburgh this month so that will mean a shopping trip for a new outfit and shoes. I'll be passing a bead store and quilt shop to get to the mall...(side tracked)...I haven't bought any new fabric but I still like to look.

Memory Quilt

2011-05-20T09:22:00.000-04:00

Now that we are past the job search...Oh that looks so good to see in writing!.. I've had a week of no walking due to the RA attacking my ankles so I had to find some handwork to do. Digging into the tote with all the unfinished projects I found the Crazy Quilt I've been working on for, lets see...years! I was able to at least finish the binding before putting it back in the tote for another day.

The velvets in the quilt are all pieces cut from my granddaughter's Christmas dresses when they were toddlers or younger. There are also pieces from drapes, maybe 1940's, that I remember hanging in my grandmother's bedroom and a piece from a bureau scarf from her guest room. I used many of her things to put the top together, table cloth from Sunday dinner's, her apron and a piece from her bedspread. I must have only been 3 or 4 years old but remember that spread so well. It was shocking blue satin with a huge peacock in the center out lined in gold thread. Over time is lost it's luster from the sun and age but I cut a piece from the edge that must have been tucked behind the pillows.

I have a box of buttons and pins that were kept for me from grandmothers house that I am adding to the quilt. Her cameo from Italy and my Dad's USO pin. I think they called them sweetheart pins, pearls and my grandfather's watch fob will find it's way into the quilt. Old cotton lace and beads from broken necklaces.

Dave starts work on the 31st and then I can get back to his French Braid Quilt. When you haven't gone to work for over a year, you need to up date your clothing. So this week will be spent on shopping.

What's This ????

2011-05-19T14:42:00.001-04:00

What wings

What style

Great color

A flight for everyone

Even our Military

EMPLOYED!! THANKS BOEING, DEFENSE, SPACE and SECURITY!

"PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS COME"

On the Home Front

2011-05-13T15:18:00.001-04:00

What happened to the days when you found a job offer in the newspaper, went for the interview and were told, "Thanks for coming", or "This is what we are offering"? It's been weeks since Dave found the Job listed on the net, took all the tests, got the phone interview with 3 people...got a packet in the mail with an offer and instructions.

He took the offer that was not a firm offer until all the items listed were met. He passed the background check, security clearance, eye test/medical....and now....we wait again.

In the meantime the clock is ticking down on the last few weeks of unemployment and the stress is awful. He continues to spend 12 hours a day applying for jobs on line and praying he will be called...this is a job he really wants! It's really hard to have something you have dreamed about so close...and so far away.

As for me, I've been dealing with black clay Texas mud from our one and only rain storm. Darn dog keeps dragging it in and it sticks to the tile floors like cement.

I have also been working on the pillow project. I have one finished and one started, with 2 more cut out. Not sure about the flowers. They might end up on a smaller pillow. I might just use lace appliques but I packed those so it will be a real chore to find the right tote they are in. I guess I can always add them later.

ruffle on soft chenelle

New pillow project

2011-05-06T22:05:00.000-04:00

I've been having eye issue's for the past year. Today while shopping at JoAnn's Fabric I spotted Ott lights in the discount area. Rarely do I spend money on myself but I thought the clear light these lamps give might help me to continue to sew, so I bought one! I only took a few minutes to try it out but it's really fantastic! With my new glasses and the light I can actually see the stitches again. I hate to admit it, but I've been guessing at where I've been sewing.

I also picked up some fabric's to make pillow covers to go with my new Flower Quilt that I am working on. Thanks to my friend Kathy, I will have a special pillow! She embroidered a B and a bee and was kind enough to send it to me.

Big changes coming!

2011-05-05T14:09:00.001-04:00

Dave and I live a very quiet life. A lot of the time I'm just too sick to do anything and he has been out of a job since he volunteered to be layed off in March of last year. He took the lay off so no one with a wife and children would find themself out of a job in a decaying town where there is no work. For us it was easy to just pick up and head to a State with a possible future for him and good weather for me.

In the past 13 months he has applied for over 1500 jobs. Finally, this week he was offered a job that he will love if he gets past all the medical and background checks...he should have no problems with them, but until he is actually hired we'll just keep praying.

In the past year we didn't really know our neighbors but the recent attack against our property made it important to find out if it was just one act or if there is actually a problem in the neighborhood. We were told that in the past this was a military neighborhood with no problems but after Katrina it became a place where they moved in victims who did not embrace the fact that Texas gave them a home. Instead they brought with them the violence and bad acts of their past.

In the past 5 years almost every home on my block has been robbed or had a car stolen or they were assaulted in some way. In the past month 3 homes have experienced violence against them. I realized the house 2 away from ours was empty but I didn't know it was because his home was broken into and he picked up and moved because it was not the first time. Another retired military fellow told us he doesn't walk his dog without carrying a machetti...that's scary!

I rented this house over the internet. I told the realestate to move us into a GOOD area since I would be alone and didn't want to have to worry. They only wanted to rent the empty house and didn't care about my safety. I don't consider it safe when you have to sleep with a loaded shot gun next to your bed, but after the stories from the neighbors and the recent assault on the neighborhood, it's the only way.

This new job will keep us in San Antonio but there are nice area's and it won't take long to move there. The north edge of the city seems to be the best area. I never let the grass grow under my feet so yesterday I started to pack! Clear the walls of quilts and wash them was the first start, and fill totes with my dolls. It pretty much cleaned up everything of mine except the sewing/quilting stuff. I even broke down the kitchen and packed items I won't need in the next weeks.

This time we are looking for a single home with at least 3 bedrooms. We have reliable help this time. I'm not looking back. Instead I am looking forward to having a sewing room.

Many little quilts all washed to move

Bare walls and packed totes

Soon the house will be filled with these..oops, must take down the curtain!

Violent act

2011-05-01T15:43:00.004-04:00

We lived in Lancaster, Pa. for years, among the Amish. We had no fear, left the keys in the car and lawn tractor, never locked the garages or barns and went to bed with the door unlocked in case someone needed to come in. Often we would wake to a pie on the kitchen table or some yummy home made breads.

Then we moved to western, Pa. Again we often left the doors unlocked at night, and keys in cars and garage doors unlocked. We had 15 years of good living, trusting your neighbors and feeling safe.

When we moved to San Antonio Texas a year ago, we realized we were on the very edge of the city where things might not be as safe as we were used to, but living on a golf course made us feel some what safe. I guess we shouldn't have left our guard down.

Since we moved here a year ago we have parked our small trailor at the curb between our house and the one next to us. My son did put a lock in the connector so no one could just hook it onto their truck and drive away. Someone was watching. Maybe one of the people who mow the lawns or maybe someone who picks up the trash.

Wednesday night while we slept, that person or person's tried to steal the trailer. Finding the lock on it, apparently they had someone try to sit in the truck rear and hold onto the trailer as they pulled away. It was too heavy and down the street they dropped it as you can see the scrape marks where it bounced to a halt in the street. They left it where it landed.

People steal, that doesn't bother me so much. But in an angry act of violence to pay us back for not getting away with the trailer, the criminal returned to the driveway and slashed the tonneau cover on our truck, ripping and slashing it in jagged cuts. For some reason they didn't do more damage. Maybe they heard me opening the door to take out the dog or maybe the next door neighbor pulled up, coming home from his night job.

If you remember my posts from a year ago before we moved, you'll remember the tonneau cover was a project my son and I made together for the trip. It wasn't a loss as I was able to patch it back up. It was a violation against my feeling safe living here. Even with the outside lights on and the police making several passes each night, I haven't slept one night. I know we were being watched. There was no way to know which house the trailer belonged too.

The lease arrived a day ago. I don't think we can sign it. After planting a beautiful garden, getting a new fence and patio furniture, I think we have to move. I feel so violated, and I was born and raised in the city of Philadelphia! It's personal because he returned to the driveway and just didn't pull away when he realized he wouldn't be able to steal the trailer. I keep checking the locks on the doors and last night I felt very unsafe when the dog wanted to go out. He didn't get what he wanted but he left his mark and I can't get over it.

I have experienced one other act of violence against us. When my son was murdered over $20.00 that caused us to move from Philadelphia, Pa. to Lancaster, Pa. I can see the same kind of rage in this slashing. My son was beaten to death with a baseball bat. Anytime another person targets you, the fear that goes with that won't stop unless you change your situation. Maybe I'm over re-acting because of the loss of my son, but the fear is real.

ADD ON:
We were just outside talking to some neighbors. They told me that the house 2 down from me was broken into a few weeks ago. The man owned an ice cream truck and had his garage lined with freezers to keep the products in. While he was out, they took his freezers. He has since moved! Now I don't feel so bad about being scared since he reacted in the same way I am feeling...I want to run away from here.

The finished new project

The act of violence

The patch

Scraps

2011-04-26T09:21:00.001-04:00

After making the French Braid I had a pile of scraps. What to do? Toss them or save them? After looking at the huge tote filled with scraps I decided to try and use them for 3 mini quilts I have agreed to trade. Now, what pattern to use?

What could be better then a French Braid! Now I have the 3 mini's to trade and the rest of the scraps will go into a handbag I have planned. Now to sandwich them and finish.

Finished

Happy Easter Flower

2011-04-23T18:15:00.000-04:00

My son always, for as long as I can remember, buys me a pink Hyacinth for Easter. He searched all over San Antonio Texas and found one group of sickly flowers. Instead he bought me this beautiful Orchid. Thanks Dave, it's just so pretty!

Let it Snowman Quilt

2011-04-19T15:03:00.000-04:00

I've had this quilt top made for many years and never finished it. I have a friend who has been very kind to me even when I'm not feeling good or moody from the prednisone I have to take sometimes that makes me out right nasty. She really loves snowmen so this was the week to put this quilt together and send it off to her.

Since I have 3 totes filled with unfinished projects I've decided not to buy anymore fabric unless I need it to finish one of the projects. I'm on a roll! Now to work on the Flower Garden Quilt or the French Braid Quilt.

French Braid Quilt Top finished

2011-04-10T14:53:00.001-04:00

This is a huge quilt and today it's very windy but I did my best to take photo's. I think it's striking! My son loves it and that matters. Now to move onto the quilting since I now how 3 ready to sandwich and finish.

French braid and Zoo fun

2011-04-06T18:26:00.003-04:00

I've been trying to get the ladies to finish up the mini swap. I've added more of the quilts they made and more will be coming soon.

I have been working on a French Braid quilt that my Friend Sherry posted on her blog.
http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/2010/01/french-braid-tutorial.html

I hope to get this top finished by early next week.

The weather has been so beautiful that we went on a trip to the Zoo. The butterfly house was so much fun! Butterflies were very friendly and sat all over us.

Then we went to feed the Lories...what fun!

And other animals

The bald Eagles were shot and can no longer fly. They have found a home at the San Antonio Zoo. What a fabulous bird!

Elephant story----for Children

2011-03-12T20:25:00.003-05:00

Ela and Noor lived in Thailand with their Mama elephant, Zin. Days were lazy as they followed their Mama threw the back lands and sometimes through small villages. Their Mama told them of dangers to watch out for, sometimes elephants disappeared and were never seen again.

Noor was older then Ela so she followed him, sometimes even when she knew her Mama would not approve. They were never suppose to leave the herd, but being adventurous, Noor often slipped away with Ela following close behind.

On this day Noor heard unfamiliar noises coming from the river. It was just too much for him to ignore. Off he went towards the noise and Ela followed him. As he neared the river's edge he smelled Humans. He had often been offered food from humans in the villages, so he had no fear. Noor and Ela went to the river's edge to get a drink and that is where their journey started.

Noor filled his trunk with water and sprayed his sister with it. They were having so much fun. Just then several humans came out from behind bushes. They offered the elephants a treat from buckets. Ela took some in her mouth. It was yummy! Peanuts, something she had never tasted before. The human took the bucket and sat it down a distance away from her. Noor and Ela were happy to follow him right into a cage. They were enjoying the treat so much they didn't even notice the door being closed and locked.

It seemed like a very long day. The elephants cried out often, wanting someone to come and open the door. They got excited when they heard the sound of a motor getting close to where they were. They had heard this sound in the village and were sure someone was coming to let them out. A very large truck backed up to the cage. Big monstrous teeth grabbed onto the cage and lifted it into the truck. Noor was frightened and called out for his Mama. The elephant herd had left the area hours before leaving Zin to hunt for her children alone. When she heard the cries of Noor she rushed to the river. Seeing her children caged in the truck she rushed the truck, trying to free them. The humans took out guns and shot them into the air. Zin retreated to the bushes, knowing what this sound was and remembering what happened to elephants when humans shot off guns.

Zin followed the truck along the length of the river until it turned into an ocean. There she saw the cage loaded onto a huge boat. The humans were busy all night loading one cage after another with many baby animals crying out for their Mama's. Soon after the sun came up, Zin saw the boat pull away into the huge ocean. She cried and wailed but there was nothing she could do. Her children were gone.

Zin would never join the herd again. Instead she lived on the shore of the ocean, waiting for the boat to return with her babies.

Weeks passed. The humans would bring food and water to Noor and Ela. Many times Ela became sick from the rocking of the ship. The belly of the ship was filled with cages, some of the animals became friends, looking for the love they all were missing from the separation of their mother's.

One day the rocking stopped. How excited Noor was, thinking they must be home and would soon find the herd and their mama feasting on fruits. Soon the huge iron teeth grabbed onto their cage, but instead of setting them down and opening the door they were loaded onto a train. Ela was just glad the swaying was done and she settled down to throwing some water over herself from the buckets. Noor was now worried. He didn't hear anything that sounded familiar. Again he cried out for Zin, hoping she would hear him and this would be all over. He knew once he was returned to her, he would never again leave her side.

It wasn't long before the train stopped and the doors opened, letting in some much enjoyed sunshine. The cage was lifted out of the box car and into a truck. Hearing the motor Noor got excited. Finally he thought he was being taken home. It wasn't long before his excitement ended. When the cage door finally opened, Ela and Noor found them self being lead by humans into a large indoor area. Soon it filled up with humans all touching and patting the elephants. The area was filled with dirt and mud, much like it was at home and in the center there was a watering hole. It wasn't as big as the river at home but it looked so inviting after not having been wet for so long.

"Come Ela", said Noor, "as he headed towards the water." Soon they were immersed and emptying their trunks of water onto each other. Ela heard the humans laughing and talking. Soon one of them came to the water with a bucket. "No", said Noor, "That's what got us into this mess in the first place, don't take food from them." Ela got out of the water, but found herself backing away from the bucket.

Each day the humans came, washed them, looked into their eyes and ears, cleaned their feet and offered them food. They would be led to the water by a stick the humans tapped on their side. "I don't think we are going home", said Ela, "I'm hungry and I don't think not eating will bring Mama." Noor and Ela began eating. Soon they had settled into their new home and even enjoyed the humans visiting them. Still, sometimes they would cry out hoping their Mama would hear them.

One day the elephants were led through a gate into an area where they saw large adult elephants on the other side of a fence. Noor and Ela cried out for their Mama. She must be among the adult elephants. As they stood at the fence looking for her, some of the elephants poked there trunks through the fence and seemed to be checking them out. Soon they were no longer a new site and they found themselves standing and looking at nothing as the large elephants left one by one. Each morning they would be brought into this area where they played in the dirt and mud and enjoyed the larger water area.

One day when the humans came with buckets of food, they were not led back to the small area. Ela was happy with this. She enjoyed the trees that hung over this area. It reminded her of home and Mama. This day was different. Soon they saw humans standing along the one fence on the other side of the water. This became their new life. Mornings were spent playing and then the humans would come and look at them on the other side of the fence. In the evening the humans that fed them kept up the routine of looking into their eyes and ears and washing them. But at night you could always hear Ela and Noor calling out for their Mama.
***************
Zin never gave up her watch. She stayed by the ocean watching each ship that came. They always left with a full ship of cages filled with animals, but never did she see them take any cages off. At night she cried for her babies. Her cries echoed against the trees and skipped across the water. She decided if she was going to find her children, she needed to get onto the boat.

The very next ship that arrived Zin paced up and down in front of the dock. The humans shot off their guns but Zin did not run this time. Without her babies she might as well be shot. Finally the day came to load the ship. Zin rushed to the cages, standing their waiting to be lifted onto the ship. Again the men shot into the air and again Zin didn't leave. She was desperate to get into a cage, any cage. Then she saw a cage with a baby elephant all alone. She began ramming the sides of the cage with her trunk and body. The baby elephant cried out thinking this Mama elephant was going to kill her.

Zin heard the humans talking. They thought this was her baby elephant. They new she would not leave and because of her size they were not going to fight her. With a long hook the one human opened the door of the cage. To their surprise Zin did not talk the baby into leaving the cage, instead she got into the cage and just stood there. The humans sat food outside the cage but Zin refused to move. They finally gave up, closed the door and loaded the two onto the ship.

Soon the ship was on it's way, swaying with the ocean waves. This baby elephant was younger then Noor or Ela. She was happy to have a mother and nudged herself against Zin to steady her footing. It would be weeks before they landed and got to see sun light again.

One day the ship stopped rocking and the cage was taken from the ship and loaded onto a train. Zin thought about her babies and how scared they must have been to make this trip alone, most of the time in darkness. Soon the cage was loaded onto a truck. The elephants were taken to a strange place, nothing Zin had ever seen before. The cage was sat on the ground and for many days to come she was poked by a human who yelled at her and the baby in a loud voice. They were given straw to eat and a small supply of water each day.

One day humans came with a metal sheet that they slide into the cage, separating her from the baby. Zin cried out along with the baby. The humans opened the cage door and poked at the baby, trying to move her to the outside. She squeezed herself into the corner, whipping her trunk at the men and making screaming noises. This went on for days. Zin banged herself against the sides of the cage every time the men approached them. Soon the metal wall was removed and the baby squeezed herself almost under Zin for protection. Zin decided this baby was hers for now and needed a name. She called her Boo.

As the days pasted, Zin saw other elephants being led around and poked at with sticks. These elephants wore clothing like the humans and were often led into a huge tent. They didn't seem to notice Zin and Boo in the cage. She heard many human voices making loud sounds and music. Not the same music as she heard at home that was made with drums, but it was music. Zin kept watch for baby elephants, but she saw none.

Zin was worried. It had been days since they had been fed and only given a little water. She was getting thin and Boo had lost the spirit of a baby. One day the cage and all the animals and tents were loaded onto trucks and they were once again on the move.
************************
Noor and Ela had grown some in the past year. They liked the humans who were taking care of them. They liked the humans who came and looked at them through the fence, but each night they cried, remembering the Mama they missed.

Something was happening. Noor heard the sounds of the gate being opened in the small area they first lived in. He heard a lot of talking from the humans. He wondered if they were going to be taken back inside. The thought made him sad. He liked the large water hole and the shade of the tree's that hung over the fence. Ela walked back to the gate but could see nothing inside.
*******************
Soon the trucks stopped. Something was wrong. Humans that Zin had never seen before were climbing all over the trucks. She pulled Boo close to her when one of these men put a stream of light into her eye. He was talking to her but she didn't understand. Soon a tub of water and buckets of fruits and food was placed into the cage. Someone was hosing them down with water, it felt so good.

The elephants arrived at a new place. The door of the cage was opened and they were led into an area with a small pool of water & plenty of food. They both were exhausted and soon fell asleep. Zin woke hearing the cries of her children. This happened often, but this time she really heard them. She rushed to the gate and let out a bellow that only a mother could make at hearing her babies cries. She banged her body against the gate over and over.

Ela rushed to the gate with Noor right behind her. Zin stretched her trunk through the gate and examined her children. Boo was right beside her, happy to see small elephants like herself. Seeing that she could not break the gate between them, they all pushed as close as possible with their trunks wrapped around each other, including Boo. This is how they spent the night.

The Zoo keepers were astonished when they saw the elephants all together. They always separated new elephants for a long time and slowly introduced them to each other. After rescuing these elephants from the traveling circus, they wanted to make sure it was safe to put them together. This mother elephant looked like she wanted to mother all 3 babies. This was very strange so they decided to watch them all day and see how things went.

It was pretty clear, none of the elephants would leave the gate, not even to eat or play. They decided to open the gate and try to get the baby to join the other two, but as soon as they released the gate, Zin pushed herself through. She seemed to be embracing the babies. Soon all four elephants were in the water, happily playing and washing each other.

Soon Zin began to trust her keepers. Maybe she was glad she no longer had to worry about her babies being captured or maybe she had forgotten the herd and replaced it with the love of her children. This was their new home. Zin was content to stay here and wait for Boos mother to find her.

New Book

2011-03-10T16:59:00.001-05:00

My friend Kathy just got her book published on Crazy Quilting or Embroidery. Just click on the book photo and it will take you to her site.

HGTV Mini Quilt Swap 2011

2011-02-18T15:17:00.019-05:00

The Quilts are starting to make their way to their new homes!

Made by Karol0405 for Shey

made by Shey for Karol0405

made by Holee for SCLady

made by Turtle9 for Tisme

made by Chris915 for MyJack

made by everythingquilts for NCQuiltinNana

"Angel Quilt" made by Citi/Sandi for everything quilts..Thanks

made by Shawkl for ekbuckeye

made by ekbuckeye for Shawkl

make by Headielamar for Gonesewin

made by Gonesewin for Headielamar

made by McPatches for MyJack

made by MyJack for McPatches

made by AngelC for CocoCathy

made by CocoCathy for AngelaC

made by KGinCA for Kentucky_Sunshine

made by Kentucky_Sunshine for KGinCA

made by sewloves2quilt for Bluesnail

made by bluesnail for Sewloves2quilt

made by Missmikol for Luvthosequilts

Soon, something to Post

2011-02-10T08:54:00.000-05:00

Pretty soon the mini quilties for the 2011 swap should start arriving home and I'll be able to start posting photo's of them. I've also been working on Pillow cases and gift mug rugs. Hope to get some of these finished soon. I'm at a stand sill on two quilts for the lack of the right fabric's, maybe I'll do a search this morning to see if I can find something interesting.

While I'm finishing up, a couple of butterflies flew in again.

Did you make a butterfly?

2011-02-03T20:33:00.000-05:00

Children's Story: Grandmother's Valentine

2011-02-02T04:13:00.002-05:00

Cally was always busy as a bee on Saturday's but not today. Instead she was sulking because mother was too busy to take her to the store to buy Valentine Cards for School. Mother was too busy to even hear her complaint today so she went to Grandmother's room hoping to find someone who would agree that she really needed the cards now.

Grandmother was sitting at her sewing machine when she felt Cally lay her head against her arm. Oh dear, said grandmother, looks like we have a problem today. Come sit next to me Cally while I finish this hem and talk to me. Grandmother, said Cally, I want to go to the store and buy Valentine's before they sell all the good ones but mother is too busy to take me. Did you send Valentine's when you were in school grandmother?

Of course we sent Valentine's. Holiday's when I was a child seemed to last much longer and were much more important then a plastic bag of bought cards. Really grandmother, how could one day last a long time, asked Cally. Maybe we took more time with everything special because we didn't have television, computers, school sports or any of things you have now, said grandmother. NO TELEVISION? I don't think I would have liked that, said Cally.

We didn't have television until I was 10, but that's a story for another day. Let me tell you about Valentine's Day and maybe those bought cards won't be so important to you, said grandmother.

I remember third grade Valentine's Day so well because that's when I first learned to sew. Early in February the teacher would put all of our names in a jar, shake it, close her eyes and pick out a name. This person would be the mailbox maker, a very special job. He or she would find a cardboard box and wrap it in paper, decorate it, and put a hole in the top for putting the cards in. It would sit on teacher's desk and every morning we were given time to put our cards in it. What's so special about that, asked Cally?

Once I knew the box was being made, I raced home from school to find things to make my cards with. I remember begging mother to give me a few paper doillies that she used to put under birthday cakes. She also had a tin filled with trims she had removed from clothing that could no longer be used for wearing. So many buttons, lace and ribbons. Many of the red ribbons had been saved from past Christmas's. Next I would plan on just the right words to say when I asked father for a dime to buy construction paper at Woolworth's 5 and dime store. I couldn't make my cards, said Cally, there are 8 girls and 9 boys in my class. That's no so many, said grandmother, I think we always had 28 to 32 kids in each class and then we always made a special gift for the teacher.

Getting that dime would not be easy. Father always reminded me of all the paper I wasted just snipping at it with scissors. After dinner he would sit and read the evening paper so I knew if I timed it right I could get him alone and ask for the dime. After asking I sat by his feet waiting for him to put down the paper. It seemed like I had been sitting there forever when he finally spoke to me. I sat 2 empty soda bottles by the back door last night, said father. You can take those to the store on your way to school tomorrow and get 5 cents each for them. Then he went back to reading his paper.

With my nickels in my pocket I raced off to Woolworth's after school. I flipped through each pack of paper making sure I got a pack with lots of red and pink paper in it. The older kids would have paper left over from other projects, but father was right, I had snipped at mine trying to make paper dolls and used it all up. This time I would put away what I didn't use and not have to go through asking father again.

Was your father mean, asked Cally, were you afraid of him? Oh no, said grandmother, he was a very kind man but money was not something we had a lot of and with 6 children, giving one a dime and not the others was a big problem for him. I guess that's why he gave me the bottles instead of a dime.

Everyday after school and after dinner was cleared away, we all sat together making our cards. Some had hearts while others had arrows. Some were red and some were pink. We had a huge jar of white paste that we used with our fingers to glue the lace and ribbons on. We made envelopes out of brown paper grocery bags. Brown paper would look ugly, said Cally. I guess so, said grandmother, but when we were finished putting glitter on them and useing melted crayons to draw hearts on them, we thought they were beautiful.

Even signing the cards took time. We never just put our names on them. The older kids would write out the alphabet and then write numbers over each letter. Sometimes we wrote it backwards to made it harder to know who the card was from. What do you mean grandmother? Putting numbers over the letters? A would be 1, B would be 2 and so on. Lets see what your name would look like, said grandmother. 3-1-12-12-25, that spells Cally! I like that grandmother, it's like a secret!

Each morning I would wait in line by the teachers desk waiting for my turn to put my cards in the box that I had finished the night before. But grandmother, you said you learned to sew that Valentine's, asked Cally.

While we were busy, mother had her own Valentine's project. She had cut apart some Irish linen she had saved. She crocheted a pretty edge on it, turning it into 6 pretty white hankies for the teachers. In one corner of each hankie she had penciled in a heart. On the 3 hankies the boys would be giving to their teachers she has embroidered a red heart. Now it was time for the girls to embroider their hankies. Mother sat me in her lap and started the heart for me, showing me how she pulled each thread. Then I was sent off to the living room to finish it. I worked on that heart all week, pulling out many stitches that just didn't lay where I thought they would. Finally I finished and was very proud of myself. Mother finished off the back and I wrapped it in tissue paper.

On Valentines Day the teacher would pull 3 more names from the jar. These lucky kids would be the mailmen/mailgirls. The box was opened and the kids delivered the cards to each desk. While we were opening the cards and trying to figure out who sent them, the teacher would give us each a paper cup filled with hard sugar candy hearts, each having a saying on them like "Be Mine". When the day was over, teachers desk would be filled with gifts the kids had made for her. I was very proud to see mine sitting on her desk. At home Mother had put up a string in the kitchen for us to hang our cards on. As I figured out each name and wrote the letters above the numbers, I'd hang it on the string. That night after dinner mother would give us each a cup cake with a powdered sugar heart on it that she had made while we were in school.

Grandmother, said Cally, I want to have your Valentines Day! Can you help me make cards? Of course Cally, let's look in my sewing box and see what we can find. Then Cally wrapped her arm around grandmother and said, Can you teach me to sew a heart on a hankie for my teacher? Cally, it would make me so happy to know I had taught you to embroider, said grandmother. Let's get busy!

Butterfly Project

2011-01-22T12:21:00.000-05:00

Did you make a butterfly yet? This was so much fun, no measuring, nothing had to match, just get out the fabric scraps and go for it! Now that I had some fun, I have a "pretty" one in the works.

A Few New Projects

2011-01-19T19:22:00.000-05:00

Please click on the Butterfly on the right to view the Holocaust Butterfly Project.

When I lived in Lancaster, Pa. I went to many auctions, many were Amish Families. In one of the sewing boxes I won, I found an envelope stamped from the post office, 1945. On the envelope it advertised butterfly pot holders. That was about 10 years ago.

Today I opened the envelope. To my surprise it was not embroidery work pot holders, but a full set of embroidery designs for a State Flower Quilt. The paper is in very bad condition. It is so dry and brittle it began to tear as I tried to cut the States apart.

I am going to try and transfer the designs to fabric. Of course there are only 48 States. It would be such ashame to have these designs lost so after I transfer them, I am going to take photo's of each block and post them here for anyone who wants to print them out. For those in other countries, it would be easy to remove the State name and just use the flower.

Children's Story: Grandmother's Vacation

2011-01-01T02:56:00.003-05:00

Cally was so excited. This year they would spend Christmas vacation at Disney World in Florida. She had a new suitcase that she got for Christmas and had packed it herself. She went to sleep thinking about the up coming fun!

She woke early in the morning when she heard voices in the kitchen and the angry crying of her older brother. She slid down the stairs, wasting no time to put on her slippers. On her way through the living room she stopped in her tracks. Outside the window snow was falling so fast you couldn't see the car in the driveway.

Cally sat watching the weather outside and listening to the news lady telling about all the airports that were snowed in. Mother told her that by the time the airports would open the week would be over and everyone would be back to work and school. She didn't waste time crying like her brother. There just was nothing anyone could do so she went to grandmother's room. Grandmother always made the worse things feel better and right now she needed that more than anything.

Cally slid into bed next to grandmother and asked her if this ever happened to her when she was a little girl. Oh my, said grandmother, vacations were very different when I was a little girl. Traveling to the beach was only 100 miles away and that took all day, no airplanes back then. Really, said Cally, tell me about your vacation grandmother.

When I was a little girl our vacation was always the end of July. I remember that because we were always at the beach for my birthday. I don't think we were poor, just most people who lived in the city always struggled to live but we were always happy, had plenty of food and a row house on a city street. The last month of school was spent getting ready to go on vacation.

Father would buy new "used" tires for the car. He checked all the army cots and aired them out on the weekend. Mother packed everything from sheets, pots and pans and many cans of food that had been bought over the winter just for this trip. In May mother would pull out all the summer clothing and start the "hand down", older kids ended up with newer clothing and us little ones got to wear the repaired hand me downs from many summers before. I was grown up before I owned a pair of shoes that didn't have the toes stuffed with cotton.

On the first day of vacation, after the car was packed, all 6 kids would pile into the back and find a place on top of all the supplies. Of course there was no air conditioning in the car and no seat belts. Our old Ford crept down the highway very slow and made many stops along the side of the road to let it cool off or the water would boil out and cause great streams of steam and water blow into the sky. Mother would judge the halfway point in the trip and hand out sandwiches and a real treat! We each always got our own bottle of Coke, and although it would be warm, it tasted so good.

Finally by mid afternoon we would reach the beach in New Jersey. The house was always old, smelled musty and was full of sand, but no one noticed. Grandmother, asked Cally, why didn't you go to a Motel? Grandmother laughed, Cally she said, a family our size couldn't afford a motel, we always rented a cottage so we could do our own cooking.
The boys got to unload the car and put up the cots on the screened in porch while the girls got to sweep out the sand and empty the boxes in the kitchen. We had one electric fan which didn't cool much of anything so on hot nights most of us would end up sleeping on the porch where the ocean would usually give us some cool breezes. Even after putting on the clean ironed sheets from home, the many years of sand in the mattresses would work its way through them, making you itch all night, so sleeping on the old canvas army cots was a treat.

The first night of vacation was all work. After putting away all the clothing and food and trying to get a meal made with only can goods, we got to sit on the porch and listen to the ocean waves hitting the beach. Our cottage was 4 blocks from the beach so seeing the ocean would wait for the next day.

Grandmother, asked Cally, why didn't you go to Mc Donalds to eat? Grandmother laughed. The only food that you could buy was in expensive restaurants or on the boardwalk, but that was special and wouldn't happened until the last night of vacation.

By morning the car had cooled enough that father was able to drive to a store to buy donuts for breakfast. They always tasted so good, sitting on the front steps running my toes in the sandy soil and waiting to be told it was time to put on my bathing suit.

Finally just before noon we would be ready. Father would carry the glass bottles filled with water, the boys would carry the beach umbrella. The girls got to carry the towels, bags of fruit and the 2 sand buckets we had borrowed from a neighbor. After our 4 block walk we would go under the boardwalk and there it would be...across the hot sand was the cool ocean. It was a beautiful picture of many colorful umbrella's.

It was a day of great fun, jumping in the waves and digging in the sand. There were always men on the beach wearing white jackets and caps with a large box they carried on their shoulder. As they walked through the many umbrella's they would call out, "Get your fudgy wudgy here". They were the beach ice cream men. But for us our lunch would be water and fruit. Getting anything bought on the beach just wasn't in the budget. Grandmother, asked Cally, what is a Fudgy wudgy? Today you would call them a fudge popcycle, but on the beach in New Jersey they were Fudgy wudgie's, big and thick and creamy. Of course, I didn't get to buy one for many years but I still remember how good it tasted after sitting on the hot beach.

Each day before we left the beach we would be given a piece of an old window screen that father had cut apart. We would go under the boardwalk and sift the sand looking for treasures. If you were lucky you would find some change that someone on the boardwalk had dropped and it had fallen through the slats in the boards. Most of the time we found nothing, but the search was always fun and exciting. When someone did find a penny or dime it made the rest of us sift and dig harder!

The rest of the week we would spend going to the beach each day and in the evening we would sit on the front steps and play Simon Says. The last day of vacation was spent getting up early and going to the back bay to catch crabs in baskets we lowered into the water. Mother stayed home getting boxes packed for the trip home and making wonderful extra's that would be eaten with the crabs we caught. This also was my birthday party, each of us getting a store bought cup cake with a candle in it.

We all marched off to get washed up from our sweaty day of crabbing while mother cooked our catch. It was always a dinner we remembered long after we were home and back to school. Baked potatoes just tasted different when you were eating them with fresh crab meat and mother always bought real butter for this dinner, something we rarely got to taste.

Grandmother, asked Cally, if you didn't eat butter at home, what did you eat instead? When I was a girl, said grandmother, things like butter were much too expensive for most people. But that's a story for another day, lets finish with the vacation first.

After dinner, this being our last night on vacation, we all dressed in our best clothing and walked to the boardwalk. Father wore his Sunday suit and hat and mother wore high heels that would get caught between the boards. I think she must have spent most of the night walking on her toes. I remember my summer sundress so well. My grandmother made it for me. It was white waffle cotton with cherries on the hem and pocket and I had new white sandals to go with it that once belonged to my older cousin. If they belonged to your cousin, said Cally, then they weren't new! They were new to me, said Grandmother, all polished up with a new hole punched in the strap by father.

If I had to wear my cousins shoes, I'd feel poor said Cally. We knew and saw what poor was Cally. Some of our neighbor's were poor, but that's a story for another day, said Grandmother.

For us the boardwalk was a magic place! Father would hand each of us an equal amount of paper tickets that would get us on the rides. I can remember standing in line picking out the horse I wanted to ride on when the Carosel would stop and hoping no one else would get on it first. There was the Ferris Wheel, bumping cars and of course Father would take us little ones on the roller coaster and haunted house rides. I remember holding onto the saftey bar of the Whip so hard my fingers hurt!

After all the tickets were used we would start our walk back over the 10 or so blocks and this was when we would be allowed to eat what ever we wanted. There were so many things to pick from, but with our belly's filled with crab and potatoes and our cup cakes still waiting to be eaten, we were limited to what we could hold. Of course there were hot dogs that came steaming hot wrapped in a napkin with mustard and relish on them, or a paper cup filled with french fries, but I always got a paper stick with fluffy cotton candy wrapped into a large looking bee hive. By the time we got back to the end of the boardwalk there was always 6 very sticky children, still licking their fingers from the wonderful treats.

The ride home always seemed much longer but each of us would be holding our bags filled with sea shells and the treasure's we had found under the boardwalk. Home after vacation always meant getting ready to return to school, but I would spend hours thinking about that wonderful week at the beach and glueing my shells onto coffee cans for Christmas presents, saving just a few special shells for myself.

But grandmother, asked Cally, where did you go for Christmas Vacation? That's also a story for another day, said Grandmother. Now lets go help your mother unpack all the suitcases. I wish we had some seashells Grandmother, then we would have something to do today, said Cally.

New York's snow storm

2010-12-29T17:24:00.002-05:00

Yes, I understand that it was a huge snow fall but...now I am wondering if this plow driver will get his overtime pay

http://www.krem.com/video/featured-videos/Caught-on-tape-stuck-plow-smashes-SUV-112577234.html

White Christmases

2010-12-01T17:12:00.001-05:00

A friend sent me this...just what a new Texan. like myself, wants to hear!

Just a few things going on

2010-11-25T20:52:00.000-05:00

It's the little things that take so long to figure out. I spent 3 days trying to make a pattern for doll shoes. I have a collection of 1950's dolls. Several are made by Ideal, Saucy Walker was always one of my favorites and I have two of them. The oldest one has a canvas like shoe that is getting pretty decayed and eventually will just fall apart. It didn't look like it would be a hard job to make a pattern, find a leather handbag at goodwill and make her new shoes. I must have drawn the shoe 20 or 30 times before I got it right and long enough for her foot. Now to find just the right weight leather.

Next small item I fooled around with was orgami folded fabric animals. It's very hard to try and follow a pattern in a book when it's laying flat on a table. I discovered an old 8 x 10 photo frame, the kind that is all clear and you slip the photo inbetween the plastic. It works perfect for holding a book up with the help of a hair pinchy on the other side of the book.

I also had to figure out a way to travel alone in an airport without my power chair. I'll be going to Pittsburgh for medical care in December. I know I'll be waiting in a long line for a long time. Standing is not something I can do for any length of time. Then there is my bag to carry and of course I'm looking forward to being assaulted since I have a plate in my foot and have no choice of going through the naked machine. So I ended up with this new cart that will take care of not standing and also the carry on bag.

Junk Food Friday

2010-11-19T19:37:00.000-05:00

While different groups in the US want to take away our freedom to eat what we want, like salt and unhealthy foods, it only makes me want them more. Tonight we had junk food and it was a delight! First there was pizza with oil, cheese, & salt. Those wonderful hot bits (cheeses and hot peppers), and a side salad..oh it does look healthy, but along with the grated carrots & onions is real mayonaise and salt!

To top that off we had left over Chocolate cake with a side of Coffee ice cream..YUM!

More Mini Quilts Added

2010-11-18T14:05:00.000-05:00

I've added more mini's to the HGTV 2010 post. Only 3 more need to reach there new homes! Click on the link to see them on the right of this blog!

Sleepless night

2010-11-17T02:49:00.002-05:00

This is one of those nights that there will be no sleep. I've had to start taking Prednisone until I get to my doctor in Pittsburgh in a month. It's one of those miracle drugs that can keep you up and running but is really a bad drug. It's finally built up in my system enough to give me all the side effects. I'm feeling "racey", nervous, running at double speed. So what to do with all these hours ahead until it finally lets me wind down?

Get the Christmas mail packed, make a door wreath, a hat for the mailbox, sew some fabric bags and make a Hershey's Chocolate cake with Chocolate butter cream icing!

Now to find an old movie to watch!

Little Aprons

2010-11-10T20:52:00.000-05:00

Last year I made tons of little aprons I used to cover hand lotion bottles for the nursing home Christmas Party. I put all those cut out and not used in a "to do" bag..well you know what happened to them, away and forgotten.

I've been cleaning out totes that I didn't get to since we moved, trying to organize my doll house parts so I can put them back together and work on them. I came upon the bag of little aprons. It's time to start finishing all these undone projects, at least those that are cut out and ready to go. I've been working on them for the past few days.

This is what they looked like last year. Just "dressed" up the bottle

Machine cover

2010-11-05T22:48:00.000-04:00

I made these for gifts last year. I did cut one out for me, but never got around to making it. Today as I sorted fabric I came across the pieces and pattern...so finally after a year I made it.

Birthday Give-away

2010-11-02T10:07:00.001-04:00

My friend Kathy is having a birthday give-away for the next 7 days in honor of her granddaughter. Go visit her blog and don't forget to visit her on line store too!

http://www.shawkl.com/2010/11/seven-days-of-give-ways.html

Day Two! If you win this, you have one Christmas gift taken care of!

First Day : Judith Baker Montano Silk Thread and Ribbon!!!

One color from this offering

Birthday Cake

2010-10-31T20:00:00.000-04:00

My Dad's birthday was November 1st. He loved to cook & bake. On Halloween he always made his own birthday cake. After hitting the street and filling our pillow cases with goodies we all headed for the kitchen table to sing Happy Birthday, have a piece of his favorite Pound Cake and apple juice.

Today I baked his pound cake in his tube pan from long ago. It rose to the top just like I remembered. We are looking forward to having a piece in his honor after the kids are done knocking on the door.

Joe's Pound Cake

1 cup crisco
1 lb. 10X sugar
4 eggs
3 Cups sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
3 tsp. vanilla
Cream crisco & sugar..add dry & wet ingredients alternately. Add vanilla. Bake 350 for about an hour to an hour and a 1/4.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD

Mini Quilt Swap

2010-10-30T15:37:00.000-04:00

We are just about done our Mini Quilt Swap...they are all landing in their new homes. Check them out..go to HGTV mini quilt swap 2010...by clicking on it on the right side.

Today's Treat

2010-10-14T17:30:00.000-04:00

I just felt like a taste from home so today I made a Philadelphia German Butter Cake.

From Cooks.com

Dough

1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. crisco
1/4 tsp. salt
1 ex. lg. egg
1 env. active dry yeast
1/2 c. milk
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 tbsp. vanilla

Mix sugar with crisco & salt. Add egg, beat one minute. Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add flour, then yeast mixture & vanilla. Mix 3 minutes with dough hook or by hand. Turn dough onto floured board, knead 1 minute. Place in lightly greased bowl 1/2 dough recipe, and cover with towel..set in warm place to rise for 1 hour or until doubled. Refrigerate other half up to 1 week. Prepare Topping and set aside.

Roll out dough to fit 9 x 13 well greased pan. Crimp edges halfway up the sides to hold topping in. When dough is spread, prick dough with fork to prevent bubbling. Spread topping over dough. Let cake stand for 20 minutes. Bake at 375 for 21 mintues. Topping should be crusty but gooey.

Topping

2 sticks of butter
2/3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 ex lg. eggs
5 tbsp. milk

Cream butter, stir together flour & sugar. Beat sugar mixture into butter. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well. Add milk gradually until all are well blended.

Finished my last Pollyanna gift

2010-10-12T17:12:00.001-04:00

When you are no longer 25 and skinny, clothing designers give you serviceable clothing. I wonder if they think older, heavy women are no longer women. I wanted my Pollyanna to have one very pretty gift, soft and pink. I found a pattern for a victorian bed jacket, but the largest size was XLarge, about 3 sizes too small.

I bought the pattern and found a blouse in the right size at good will. After taking the blouse apart I was able to increase the size of the pattern by using the blouse as a guide.

I started sewing in my teens making clothing but lately after getting a serger, for myself, I just ran clothing items through the serger and whatever I ended up with was okay. For this project I went back to the basic sewing lessons I learned a long time ago.

I guess it's like riding a bike. As I worked with the pattern the old rules just came back to me. I am very happy with the end results. Since my Pollyanna does a lot of traveling I hope this is something she will use. It's just nice to have something to put over your nightie without filling your suit case up with a bulky robe. Bed jackets are also nice just for those chilly mornings when you are having your coffee or when sitting and watching a movie in the evening. Now why don't they have store bought clothing that is pretty for us older gals? If I had found anything close to this I would have bought it, but what I found was ugly fleece that you could use for a fishing trip!

The fabric's are cut chenelle and flannel lined satin. I made the collar without lace so it's not picky.

Roolens Scrappy Flower Quilt

2010-10-06T20:04:00.000-04:00

I almost forgot what I've been spending lot of time on. I need a gift quilt for the spring. Our Russian friend, roolen, http://roolen.blogspot.com/, posted a photo on HGTV of her Scrappy Flower Quilt. I think it's just perfect for the person I need a quilt for. Roolen was kind enough to allow me to copy her pattern.

roolens Scrappy Flower Quilt

I took all the fabric's for the blocks from my scrap bin. Now to find a nice fabric to finish it. Thanks so much roolen!

Scrappy blocks

Quick Fall up date

2010-10-06T19:17:00.000-04:00

Lots of surprise company so I've been out an about. The fall days are just perfect here in Texas. Warm and sunny days and cool nights. I've had the windows open and the air off for at least a week now. The sky has changed, no more puffs of white clouds, just royal blue sky.

I pass these boots all the time but never had my camera ready.

I have my boxes packed and ready to send for the All I Want For Christmas Swap. I only have to finish up the last gift. I am making a special gift for my Pollyanna out of cut chenelle and flannel lined satin.

Then to finish off the day we made a fall Jewish Apple cake...yummy!

And now, back to some chatting and visiting!

Rattle Snake

2010-09-29T12:13:00.000-04:00

I guess when you move to Texas for a guy, rattle snakes become interesting. Couple that with John Wayne and you have a good match for a project.

My son Dave, http://cycle-truck.blogspot.com/, fixed up an old Singer machine, got himself a snake skin and an old hat and set out on a project to make the band on the Duke's hat. You can see his project on his blog.

Little Russian dolls

2010-09-24T18:46:00.000-04:00

I've been busy cutting fabric for a quilt I am working on but I did take the time to use a pattern from our Russian Friend, roolen, http://roolen.blogspot.com/, for cute little Russian Dolls. I'm going to use them on Christmas packages instead of ribbons this year.

New Mini Quilt Swap 2010

2010-09-17T14:38:00.047-04:00

NEW MINI SWAP....2010

made by BingoBonnie for SewLoves2quilt

made by sewlove2quiilt for Bingobonnie

made by Tisme for warmBuns (wool)

made by WarmBuns for Tisme

Made by Nlk for Holee

Made by Holee for nlk

Made by Quiltnanny for AngelaC

made by AngelaC for Quiltnanny

Made by Missmikol for Gonesewin

Made by Gonesewin for Missmikol

made by expatquilter for Kentucky-Sunshine

Made by Kentucky-Sunshine for expatquilter

made by bluesnail for Shey

made by Shey for bluesnail

made by everythingquilts for Quiltaholic

made by Quiltaholic for Everythingquilts

made by MyJack for Turtle9

made by Turtle9 for MyJack

made by Dabbado for Ely

made by Ely for Dabbado

made by amiyoko for OwenJulesMommy

made by OwenJulesMommy for amiyoko

made by WildCatMom for QuilterJen

made by QuilterJen for WildCatMom

made by Cindy for Talia

made by Talia for Cindy

Making good choices

2010-09-17T12:28:00.000-04:00

It's been a real eye opener trying to get medical doctors in Texas. I spent 9 hours in the Texas University Medical Center in San Antonio on Wednesday. We counted over 80 people waiting, some had been there for over 24 hours. The end result was getting an antibiotic for an infection and a phone number for a family practice doctor that might be willing to take a new Medicare Patient.

I've been posting my problems to the Arthritis Foundation Fourm. One person posted this map so I could see why I was having problems. Pennsylvania is one of only 10 states that people are insured one way or the other and that's why medical care is no problem.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113042669

I know people who live in Florida part of the year and somewhere else part of the year. I've checked out flights to Pennsylvania. I've decided it's well worth the price of a flight to keep my doctors in Pittsburgh Medical Center. I'm done fighting with Texas for medical care.

We are really in a sad state when you are turned down because you are on Medicare and they tell you they don't take CASH payments, only insurance, but not Medicare.

I guess to get the sunshine in Texas I will have to do some traveling to stay alive so I can enjoy it!

Re Thinking Texas

2010-09-02T14:37:00.000-04:00

I started this blog for happy messages about my life and quilting. Lately things have not been so happy even though I now live in San Antonio, Texas where the sun shines all the time.

I love living here. I love going outside everyday and seeing a wonderful blue sky. I know back in western Pa. where I lived, they are preparing for winter that will arrive sometime in early October with the first snow fall. All of this makes me very happy.

The saddness comes from not knowing if I'll be able to stay here. After searching for 2 months for doctors I've come up with none. Soon my meds will run out and I've gotten into serious condition for the lack of doctors in my life. After calling over 50 doctor offices I soon realized that they don't take Medicare in Texas.

Then I turned to trying to find any doctor who would allow me to pay CASH. Not possible in Texas. They only take insurance, but not Medicare insurance. I'm baffled, when did insurance become better then cash? Finally after many calls to the University of Texas Hospital they sent me to a Clinic. Okay, I'm not happy with going to a clinic, but at this point if thats the only way I can get a referral to specialists, I'll do it.

The first clinic I was sent to took my finger impression and a photo and then told me they didn't prescribe medicines..What? I have serious Rheumatoid Arthritis, Tylenol won't help! The clinic was full of just what I would expect from a clinic. Many people of Mexican heritage, many asleep in chairs, many looked abused and homeless. Not a place I would normally find myself at.

I went home feeling pretty angry. Finally my son found an RA doctor who would take Medicare. I arrived at 9:30 for a 10:00 appointment just like they asked me to do. I was again photographed...this is really beginning to annoy me. I'm feeling like my privacy is being violated each time I'm asked for a finger impression or photo. Then I was handed 22 pages of questions which I had downloaded from the net and already filled out. The receptionist went over the questions with me, asking things I really didn't want to answer and had nothing to do with illness. Finally a nurse took me into an examining room. She sat at the computer and began going over the sheets of questions, again asking me the answer to each question. The tapping of the keys & repeating the answers again began to make me very angry. Finally I told her I would not answer anymore questions and wanted to see the doctor. She cheerfully said, "Well lets move on to your social life". I lost it! I told my son we were leaving...and we did at 11:25!

Again I hit the internet and phone. I was given a number to call for a family clinic associated with the University Hospital. When I called yesterday I was told they didn't have a new schedule made out, call back tomorrow. Today I was very ill but at 11:am I managed to make it to the phone after lowering my pain with meds I have. I've been horading them for fear of running out before I get a doctor to write a new script.

I was rudely told by the person on the phone that I should have called at 8:am, now there was no appointments for new patients. I pressed on. I told her no one had told me to call at 8:am or I would have been sure to do that. She then spoke to me in Spanish and hung up. I don't think what she said was anything I would have wanted to hear!

I have one option left. Next week, after the holiday, I will go to the University Hospital ER. I hope they can give me meds for the kidney infection I have and can refer me to some specialists to take care of the RA and liver diseases I have. I need a uroligist immediately. The surgery I had back in Pittsburgh in April didn't get rid of the infection. At this point I am thinking the problem might be a fungal infection caused by the RA injectable medicine I take. I am told that can be deadly.

I am pretty upset at this point. I am in trouble with the RA meds. They are no longer working and I need to be moved to a stronger injectable. I have no idea what the problem is with my liver without a blood test. I just know I am having trouble keeping food down. Soon I won't have pain meds left and I'll be in real trouble at that point.

It's not looking good. Without doctors I won't be able to stay here. Funny, I came here to be able to have a life and doing that might just kill me. sigh.............

Weekend- Eating, Fun, Sewing===Auto Rushing & a new Baby

2010-08-23T06:16:00.001-04:00

I'm still exhausted but wanted to drop in and let you all have a peek at our retreat weekend in a few photo's.

There was a lot of eating

Some sewing

Sherry was so cool & happy in her purple top & then a Huge tree decided to try some rushing on her car

Back at my house my son was busy walking over a mile in the Texas sun to bid on a new baby for me..it now lives in my home!

Lots more Photo's to come later. Kathy is staying with me for one more day so we are off to the San Antonio River boat ride today before she boards a flight home to Alabama.

CHINA

2010-08-17T08:55:00.001-04:00

PLEASE...this is an American Blog. All posts MUST be translated to ENGLISH or I'll have to delete them.

Hi Everyone! I did get a little lost lately. I am getting ready for a mini retreat in Houston on Thursday. My friend Kathy is flying in today from Ala. I should have some nice stories and Photo's to share next week!

I've also signed up for a HUGE retreat in April that will be held in Charlotte, NC at the Hilton. It's pretty exciting for me. Lots of things that will have to be made and packed up for all the games! Over 100 ladies have signed up and some are bringing along their hubbies, and one motorcycle!

I am also working on my "All I Want for Christmas Swap." Here are a few items I've made for my Pollyanna.

These are shoe bags for traveling. They have a cotton removable liner that can be washed

This is a garden tote. I'll fill it with tools, gloves, miracle grow, flower stakes, etc. The elastic hoops hold the handles of the tools. It's made out of canvas.

Oh well.....

2010-08-03T07:38:00.003-04:00

I have no idea how I got this background, but at least photo bucket isn't floating around in the center. I wish I knew what I was doing.

Happy Birthday to me

2010-07-21T19:43:00.005-04:00

Yep, made the big 65 today. We went into San Antonio City and enjoyed the day shopping. When we arrived home my son presented me with my Texas Cake! The flower on top was sent by my son who is back in Pa.

When we lit the flower candle....it OPENED & Played Happy Birthday!

Thanks guys, I've never seen anything like this!

We needed a taste of Philly

2010-07-21T03:34:00.002-04:00

We are just so busy all the time..it's wonderful! BUT..there is always a but..we both got a little hungry for the things they don't sell in Texas. No real bakery shops as far as I can tell so I whipped up some Philly Sticky Buns...and we wolfed them down!

Your home should be your castle.....

2010-07-11T22:35:00.006-04:00

no matter how small it is. We decided our home needed to support the things we like to do. After all, it's just the 2 of us and if we want it cluttered, then so be it!

The only real furniture we brought with us is my dining room table and small china closet. I don't have a sewing room so where do I work and where can we eat? Today we did some second hand store shopping and found a huge 9 foot table. It needs to be sealed with varnish but other than that, it will be a great place to work when I need the extra space. Of course, we can also remove a few of the extensions when I don't need them. The dining room table is now where we'll eat- with no clutter!

Tonight we sat side by side to eat dinner. I think anyone sitting at the end would have to fight for food! The last time I saw a table this size was in an Amish kitchen in Lancaster, Pa.

Take time to smell the roses

2010-07-05T17:52:00.007-04:00

Well, they aren't roses, but they are the first flowers to bloom in my new garden! No furniture except a new sofa but we did plant a flower garden, put up a sun tent and bought a barbecue and lots of good things to eat!

I'm also trying to get ready for a mini retreat in Houston in August. I wanted a wall hanging for the gals to sign so I'd have a memory to hang up. Pretty hard working on half of a table that we did bring with us, but I got the top done today.

I guess you can see I have the Texas Fever!

No one ever mentioned the Texas sky

2010-06-22T16:22:00.006-04:00

This is just a quick post, we are so busy unpacking and shopping for furniture. Yesterday on the way to the store I took photo's of the Texas Sky. Maybe because the building's are all one story or maybe it's just so blue, I love looking at it and trying to see the images the clouds make.

This is just around the corner from the house...SHOPPING...everyone of these buildings are stores...I'm in heaven!

The photo's look dark because of the trucks tinted windows, but the sun was shining bright!

Ready, Set....GO

2010-06-16T14:23:00.007-04:00

Here is where we started, a 26 foot truck to pack up excluding furniture. Sounded like plenty of room considering we down sized by 50%. We were taking only the things that meant something to us..HA! I think we just love too many things because the truck was too small!

Unfortunately on day one of the packing my RA decided to flare up taking out my feet and ankles. I did what I could do, some of it with the power chair. But poor Dave had most of the work all alone. First disaster was the stove that we thought we would take along just in case. It took a trip off the side of the ramp so that was one thing we didn't have to pack!

It was dark when we stopped with half a house to still load and some items still in the garage. We were exhausted! Thursday it rained which slowed us up and again by night fall we just couldn't finish. Instead of leaving early Friday morning, we left at half past 3 in the afternoon. Since the electric was shut off we had no choice but to leave, dirty, tired and hungry by this time.

Ohio was only 30 some miles away. Seeing Pennsylvania in the rear view mirror meant we were on the way...good feeling. We spent the night only 50 miles away from home but the shower and food made the short trip well worth it. By now we knew we would be riding out some of the worse storms in the morning.

Day 2 proved to be a monster. Remember, I stopped driving 5 years ago. I was nervous about this trip, never knowing when my diseases would keep me down and hold up the journey. Rain in the amounts that Ohio held for us was not something I was enjoying. Dave kept telling me not to worry since he treated the windows with Rain X. True, I could see through the sheets of water and all the cars and trucks pulled off the road under bridges, but Mr. Rain X was not driving the pick up truck for me and I really struggled with it flying at 65 miles an hour towing a trailer.

I don't think it could have rained any harder by the time we reached Cincinnati. It was so dark it looked like midnight with wind blowing and swirling around the truck. We didn't quite make Bowling Green before I HAD to stop for the night. I don't think I would have made it through another large city in the pouring rain.

By morning it was still cloudy and soon began to rain again. Tennessee was much of the same until 100 miles from Memphis when the sun finally came out! We stopped early when the rain began again, both needing a rest from it.

Day 3 it rained off and on right into Texarkana when finally we saw bright sun! We had intended staying here for the night but by this time had lost many hours with the truck breaking down everytime we stopped.

Up until now we had depended on the Garman to get us home but Texarkana was under road construction and this is where we got a rude awakening that it's only a little machine and does not adopt to construction. When it told us to exit, the exit was no longer there, taking us under the over pass 3 times in heavy traffic. Now we could have stopped and called Sherry who would have put us in the right direction but it was also at this point that I realized the orange folder I had all the contact info in was no longer on the front seat of the pick up. Dave jumped off the interstate and onto a back road that went for miles before leading us back to the interstate.

Shortly before entering Dallas it began to rain! Oh NO, and Dallas was also under road construction. It was a nightmare getting through Dallas! Huge is all I can say! We didn't quite make it to Waco before stopping for the night.

We woke to bright sun and 95 degrees...we were almost home and we had smiles on our faces!

Day 4 & 5 were the hardest, unloading the truck into the house and garage. We soon saw that we needed to down size again it we ever intended to buy furniture! We have a full pick up truck to take to Goodwill. A week has passed and even with working everyday on boxes and totes it won't look much different until we have furniture with drawers and storage.

Everyday Dave & I look at each other and say, "It doesn't matter, we are here"!

Deep in the heart of Texas!

2010-06-16T05:35:00.003-04:00

I don't know how we did it, but one fellow and his worn out Mom arrived in Texas on June 8th! The trip started out with dropping the stove off the side of the moving truck ramp and leaving behind items we were just to tired to load, but all that is in the past now!

I gave up driving 5 years ago, so getting behind the wheel and pulling a trailer seemed impossible, but I did it and have learned I'm not done yet! We started out at 3 PM on June 3rd and hit every storm Ohio had to offer by days end on the 4th. Kentucky and Tennesse offered the same heavy storms and didn't stop until 50 miles outside of Memphis.

Finally sun! But...it wasn't over yet. We entered Texas only to find every city is building Super roads, confusing the Garman who sent us off the interstate when it couldn't find the "no longer exists exit ramp" and over the same under pass 3 times before we gave up in the middle of evening traffic. We found ourself on a Texas road that seemed to go for miles without any life before the Garman finally programmed itself and found the interstate again.

Did I mention the new moving Truck shut down at every gas or food stop and took an hour or two to cool down before it would start up again...from Ohio to San Antonio. We lost almost a full day just waiting for the truck to start up.

We also had to deal with the dog who refused to get out of the pickup truck. He just wanted to go home and hated his first ride in an elevator first night in a hotel. He finally stopped running for the back seat of the pickup when we finally started bringing in items that smelled like home to him.

After arriving at noon on the 8th, having no key to enter the house and having no idea where I put the cell phone number of the property manager, we sat outside the house in 95 degree heat. Every inch of my body hurt but the sunshine and heat felt wonderful!

We parked the moving truck and headed for a Denny's to gather our plan back together. After cooling down and getting some much needed food we did find the phone number. Seeing a sign across from the Denny's for a sale on mattresses we headed across the highway and bought two beds so we would at least have a place to lay down for the night.

At 1:30 PM we finally opened the door to HOME! (more later)

Saying Bye for now!

2010-06-01T08:17:00.005-04:00

Looks like the computer will be shut down tomorrow morning so I'll say bye for now! It could be 2 weeks before I can get back on, but I'll see ya next time from Texas!

The count down

2010-05-30T23:10:00.003-04:00

We did the yard sale for 2 days. I only have two items that I really wanted to sell, but looks like they'll be coming with us and we'll sell them in Texas. The plans may change a little although I will post my last up date on Wednesday before the computer is shut down.

I never saw such a mess that Dave's Former company got themself into. Now that they laid off all the engineers they can't fix any of the problems. They called Dave back to work last week. They were a bit shocked to find out he is leaving the state. He thought he would be able to get the design up and running for them in a week but they didn't have the entire information from the company they are doing the job for. We'll see what happens Tuesday.

We are ready! I'll be here looking at my travel bag waiting for him to finish up!

Really quick up date

2010-05-23T21:38:00.002-04:00

It's been a busy time. We are just about packed up, only one more yard sale Thursday thru Saturday. I hope everything goes quick and we don't have to do the weekend.

We rented a house and signed the lease! Funny thing on the lease. Here in Pennsylvania we work at keeping the water running away from the house foundation. Not in Texas. I had to call the property manager and ask what the lease meant when it said we agree to "water the foundation"..lol It seems the earth gets so dried out it can move the foundation so once a week we need to water it! Now that's HOT!

We'll be packing up the truck on June 2nd and pulling out of here on the 3rd. For the past 5 years I've just about stopped driving. Since I'll be driving the pick up truck and pulling a trailer, that meant driving around the property to get back into the swing of driving again!

I'll stop back before we shut down the computers and let you all know if we are on time with our plans!

Getting ready, right down to the pick up truck cover

2010-05-07T12:58:00.014-04:00

Just thought I'd drop in and show you what I have been sewing. We are ready to make this move, all but renting the right house! It's still cold here in Pennsylvania so I am looking forward to being baked in Texas.

The Pick up truck needed a new top. After pricing them at $300. we decided to try and make one ourselves. With an old sewing machine, singer heavy duty needle, Coats & Clark UV thread and snaps from my sons days of building Amish buggies we got to work. It has a little wiggle room and if it doesn't shrink up I can make it tighter. The feeling is the industrial vinyl fabric will shrink and harden in the sun.

The old cover had shrunk & the cornors would no longer go over the frame

The vinyl had also split and the bows could no longer be used

The frame was still in great shape

We used a nylon strapping on the edge to hold the snaps and keep the shape

The white mark is for the snap

A nifty tool to make the holes

Pressing the snaps on

The finished top

The cost with 50% off the fabric was around $35.00!

This was a great mother/son project!

Here we go again....

2010-04-19T06:57:00.005-04:00

Okay, guess you are wondering about the remark I made about the house. After 6 years and two attemps to restore this 150 year old house, we get it. This house does not want to live anymore, it just doesn't!

Thousands of dollars have passed through it with little improvement. Every new addition leads to another costly breakdown.

Then there is the general area, the lack of jobs and the depressing feeling you get looking out at snow everyday from October to April. Early in January my son noticed the crew on the manufacturing floor of the company he works for , weren't making anything...they were cleaning the building. His company is one of three that actually employ people besides Walmart. By the end of February all three companies were in trouble and lay offs began in waves.

Recently I heard someone on Fox News say...10% of people do nothing in a crisis, 80% wait to be told what to do...10% just do it. It's like a burning building. Some people sit at their desk and go up in the flames, most wait for someone to tell them to leave after it's too late and only some see the smoke and just get up and go.

We saw the smoke. Dave started applying for jobs early in the year. We made our plan to be gone before the 4th of July. He found that most military defense jobs are in Huntsville, Ala. or San Antonio, Texas. We started packing and I had to get through some surgery where I was comfortable with the doctors.

About 10 days ago we bought a newer pickup truck. I had my surgery on Thursday. We decided to head for San Antonio where the outlook for a job is best, where he has already passed the first hump to qualify.

I am working on renting a house on the west side of the city near the base. This looks most promising. I am looking forward to living where I can go out side all 12 months of the year! Where they have real grocery stores and Malls! Where people use visa cards instead of food stamp cards.

When you are heading over 1500 miles to a new home you have to give up 50% of what you own...it's the things/stuff that clutter your life and hold you down. When we arrive in Texas we will have to first buy beds since all the large furniture has been sold off or given away. The moving truck will be filled with our life, things that are really important to us that can't be replaced.

The house, well it's in the hands of a lawyer this time. No one has money to buy it, and so, what will be, will be. It'll just be a part of the past, a photo in an album, a memory of hard work with little results! North Western Pa. is a hard place to live! Everything is old, the weather is awful and the economy ended when the oil dried up and Penzol left sometime back in the 60's. It never recovered and I don't think it ever will.

What will happen to us? We haven't a place to live yet but the HGTV ladies already have our feet on the ground in Texas! We'll arrive sometime in early June but they have set up a Quilting retreat already for August! This feels so good...real people with life and fun all around them! We'll be staying in this retreat near Houston, Texas.
http://www.cabinquilter.com/quilterscabin/

As the days move forward I'll try to post again and let you all know where we will be landing. Just another adventure!

Who would have thought...

2010-04-13T10:57:00.018-04:00

....that at age 65 I would get a new grown daughter? To top that off she is from Thailand, beautiful and a friend of my son Dave's. Her name is Prim.

I'm not sure just how this came about but most likely Dave was telling her about my sewing and how much I would love to have quilting books from her country.

Yesterday I got a mailer with a very cute Thai mailman on it. He is wearing a helmet because they use scooters in Thailand.

On the back of the envelope he has his hands folded, showing respect with the Thai greeting.

Inside I found 2 quilting books. One celebrates the granny patch while the other celebrates the log cabin.

Here is a picture of the King of Thailand that was on the inside cover.

King Bhuimibal Adulyadej

So many tote bags, but what wonderful leather straps they used! Now I will be searching on line for leather straps!

And the log cabin quilts..

Thank You for the wonderful gifts and Thank You for being my Thai daughter, Prim.