Back from my Iowa Get Away

I spent a week with a friend that I went to high school with.  She stayed put while I was the one to move all over the country.  So now I envy her for her stability and success.  She and her husband have a good business in a tiny town on the Des Moines River in Van Buren County.  You can google the county or the town, Bentonsport and you will find your way to her shop, it is called Iron and Lace.  Her husband is a very talented blacksmith and she is a potter, weaver, and much more.  Her signature pottery has the imprint of Queen Anne's lace (a common weed)  and you will see from some of the pictures how beautiful it is. 

The first pic is of their shop. A picture taken at an earlier time.

Second pic is me weaving a rug on her loom in the shop.  This is the first time I have gotten to weave on a big heavy loom like this.  Quite different than my little Baby Wolf.

This picture is of Miss Betty!  She just whipped up this "little" bowel while I was weaving on the rug.  I really felt I was in my element and enjoyed it so much.  It was Memorial Day and she likes to have demonstrations going on for the customers.  She would tell them that I was a friend on a working vacation.

This is Ginny, who is an artist that works in the shop with Betty. In her spare time she ties off rugs as you can see here.

This is just a small sample of their work.  They hold classes on a regular basis to teach their crafts.  The county has a program that is very successful that I will have to talk about another time.  But they are deeply involved in this.  Retirement?????  Not on their radar. 

The river was above flood stage while I was there.   This old bridge has been preserved as a walk bridge now rather than be torn down.  The new bridge is about half mile up stream.

The last picture is taken from the porch of her store.  So you can see how close to the river she is.  They have had to sandbag in the past.

So you can see why I ended up not traveling over the county like I usually do.  I did go into town once but got caught in a tornado!!!!  Really.  It rained off and on while I was there and I had made plans to go into the nearest town about 6 miles away to visit some other friends and the sky looked like rain, well the closer I got to town I saw a white wall of water and knew it was going to be raining like mad in a couple minutes so I stopped at a church that was on this road and parked under their overhang and it hit.  It rained so hard that I was running my wipers while under this overhang and the little car I was in was rocking.  I have to admit I was a little scared.  When it passed I went on into town and there were trees down all over town.  BIG trees.  After supper the friends and I went for a drive and saw the damage.  About a mile up the river there were alot of big pine trees snapped off about 15 ft off the ground.  At first they said it was straight line winds but a few days later after better evaluation it was classified as an EF1 tornado.  OK that was close enough.
Well I am caught up for the moment.  Got to teach my friend and her daughters a different technique on the loom and came home and am now making tote bags on the loom.  Got 4 done so far.  Will have to look at my other blog if interested.   Its

http://readagainbooks.blogspot.com/

Till next time: Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself-----Chinese Proverb

When you are given lemons, make lemonaid

In my last post I showed the picture of the tree that the snow badly damaged.  It was a Branford Pear tree that had been allowed to get way to big.  We ended up having it taken down and they left me a stump.  That is a pot on top with wave petunias planted.  I also am planting alot of ground cover plants along the roots and on the outside of that chain link fence.  It is to rough and rock to mow so I am making a garden that will only need a spray of water from time to time.  Have some small starts of ornimental grasses to plant, hen&chicken, and some others.  I will follow up later in the sumer when it actually looks like a garden.

Spring Snows do damage

This is what happens when you get 4 inches of wet snow in May!  This big tree had bloomed and was all leafed out.  Had the tree guy out yesterday and guess the whole thing is going to come down.  Always hate to see a tree go.  We were lucky it didn't fall on the fence. 
Saw my orthopedic guy for one last time (did I mention that he is a cutie?)  Anyway I have a couple more sessions of PT to finish, and my surgery is about all healed up on my upper arm and think I will be just fine.  Will always have some restriction with my shoulders but need to learn to not reach out away from by body when lifting anything and reaching behind me.  Hopefully I will remember to do the exercises they are teaching me to help strengthen the shoulder muscles.  I asked him about my thumbs hurting so much and he assured me it was "just" osteoarthritis.  It flairs up when I do to much hand work like I did last week wrapping alot of small rope to make my fabric baskets.  He said I could still do it but just not so much at a time.
Oh, did you say you would like to see one???  Well here it is.  This one is about 13 inches across and 2 inches deep.

I made a set of 4 mug rugs to match.  Not sure I can sell this one though as I sort of like it.  Have fabric left, maybe I could wrap some more.  TEE HEE  Now where is my heating pad?

Spring?? More like April Fools Day!

This is how I felt when I woke up this morning!  Here is a pic from our deck,  the big pots have wave petunias that I planted the other day,  now covered with coffee cans and bricks, oh, and 4 inches of snow!  We double covered the tomato plants so think we are OK.

That tree is actually still in bloom too!

This is a pic of a tree in the front yard that was totally leafed out so caught the snow and broke off several big limbs.  It will look pretty sad.

The last pic is of hubby pushing snow.  IF you click on the pic you can see the blooms on that tree.
Welcome spring huh?  But we are getting moisture and the winter wheat in the area looks really good.  Glad we got the yard all mowed about 4 days ago!

Thought for the day:  Creative clutter is better than idle neatness   (I think that sums up my life)

Missing in action?

Haven't written in a few weeks.  Guess good intentions don't count for much.
Lets see the 29th of march I had the egg size fatty tumor removed from my right upper arm.  The rascal was under the deltoid muscle and was causing the nerves to be stretched and they didn't like it much.  The surgery went smooth and after the first couple days sitting around in a daze from taking the percocet I cut that out and stayed with some tylenol and felt much better.  Don't know why people want to take that crap and feel like that. 

Any way was back to my little store in about 10 days and doing a little PT for the little rotator cuff tear in same shoulder.  Think I mostly need to learn how to do some of the things I love to do without causing any more damage as I DO NOT want any more surgery.

Hubby is doing very well and still on coumadin till June.  Been out mowing the yard and I try to help where I can (and where he will let me)  We are finally getting spring or maybe it is a taste of summer as it went from the 40's as a high to over 80 yesterday.  Have had some nice spring rains and finally got the tomato plants out yesterday.  Poor things were sitting in the window for over 3 weeks (we potted them up into gallon pots) and they grew way to much, so when we set them out they sure look droopy.  Hopefully they will perk up soon.

So that's it for now.  Trying to catch up and you can follow me on my book store blog if you can figure out how to find it from this page?????????

Thought for the day: Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back.

My rat story

I had to start setting my tiny humane trap again this "spring" (I use that word loosely, as I sit here and watch 2 inches of spring snow fall)
Anyway, so far I have caught 2 mice, 1 chipmunk, and one rat.  I have mentioned that my hubby and his sister put enough corn and birdseed out daily that you would think we had a small herd of sheep.  Of course they love to feed the birds and we have some deer that come thru nightly and clean up the corn and a wild turkey that shows up when she is in the mood.  Oh, did I mention we live in town? 
Anyway with all this food on the ground it has to attract rodents.  A couple weeks ago I mentioned to hubby that something smelled funny with the little pickup that I drive to my store.  When I park it under the carport and get out I got a burned smell.  So he looked under the hood and there was a nest of "stuff" right on top of the block.  So out came the air compressor and he blew it all to H-e-double L. 
So I figured I better start trapping again.  The chipmunks I catch get relocated. (they are so cute) The mice and occ. rat gets their brains batted out after we put them in a sack and wack it on the deck.  Figure thats more humane than drowning.  Quick and effective. 
I have mentioned I feed a cat that lives behind my book store and is still pretty wild but waits in the same place every day for her food.  (sister feeds her when I am not there)
I gave her a treat of a dead mouse twice, but when I had the dead rat that was over 24 hours dead in my baggie, I got to the store and looked at that rat and just couldn't put it out there next to the good leftover chicken and cat food for this pregnant cat to eat.  So the rat went into the garbage can.  End of the rat.

Any one want a pretty calico pregnant feral cat?  I think I could trap her. :)

Its not a tumorrrrrr ( said in that accent, you know)

Per Wikipedia:

A lipoma is a benign tumor composed of adipose tissue. It is the most common form of soft tissue tumor.^[1] Lipomas are soft to the touch, usually movable, and are generally painless. Many lipomas are small (under one centimeter diameter) but can enlarge to sizes greater than six centimeters. (a nice way of saying "fat" tumor)

So that is what I have.  I finally got to see the specialist in Kansas City last Thursday.  She had canceled my apt twice and I canceled once when there was a blizzard there.
I really like her and feel confident in her assessment of what needs to be done.  She says that tumors of this nature need to be removed when over 5 cm. and mine is almost 7cm. about the size of a small chicken egg.  The problem that it is causing is that it is beneath my rt deltoid muscle and there are 2 major nerves that are being stretched around the sides of it and they don't like it. That is what makes it ache.  The most of the actual pain that I have is from the rotator cuff in the same shoulder only inches above the tumor.  She feels that this will be improved with physical therapy and I will be doing that after my surgery.  I am scheduled for the 29th of Mar.  So will be getting this taken care of soon. Not sure how long I will be out of commission.  I have a good friend who is my designated driver since we don't like driving in down town KC.  Big woosies huh?

Snake Oil Salesman?

Been reading this book that I think is so right on that it is scary!  It is called the Happiness Diet by Tyler Graham and Drew Ramsey, MD.  Meaning we need to eat food not only for our body but our brain.  It tells the direct link between all the processed, sugary, fatty foods that's common in the American diet now to all sorts of mental problems, no. 1 being depression. 
It is a real eye opener and really stuff that we all know deep down.  We cant eat the garbage we do and not expect to have our bodies breakdown from it. 
I know that I need to do this and only wish I could have made myself get on board with this idea years ago.  But we can't go back, only forward.  Lucky that coffee is a good thing to have. 

What I like about the book is that it goes into details of how we got to where we are and why.  When you see what all goes into things, like a dunkin donut glazed chocolate stick contains more than 40 ingredients including a preservative TBHQ, a form of butane ( a lighter fluid)  Now tell me how did we get to the place that we figure out how to put all this poisonous stuff in food to preserve food and not think that it might just be a wee bit bad for us.

I like to use the word Snake Oil Salesman when I talk about our advertisements (politicians too)  but I digress.  Anyway isn't that what we see day in and day out on TV and isn't it all for the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$ ?  We are so darn smart that we are ignorant!!!  Take good healthy food and strip it of all nutrients then sell it as good for you.  You know they have been "fortifying" breads and cereals for years.  Right after they strip all the good stuff from the grains of course they have to add stuff and if you thing it is "real" stuff they add I bet you would be double wrong.

Wheee  I better slow down I am giving myself a headache.  Better just get back to reading the book and maybe have an orange.
I have a feeling I will be back to this subject again soon. (Like how to eat the way you know you should when you live with 2 skinny people who eat all this stuff or expect to have white rice, white bread, and white pasta.  Been cooking my own brown rice for a long time but sometimes its just to much trouble to cook an extra pan)
I think things are going to change around here.   Hear me roar!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Synchronicity verses Serendipity?

I love the Grizzwells, they always get it right.  I wrote a blog yesterday about Synchronicity and when I read the paper last evening this was the cartoon.  Now I feel that is just a bit of synchronicity don't you?   But my question now is whats the difference between Synchronicity and Serendipity?  So I looked them up. 
 Wikipedia says:
Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it.

And it also says:

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. The concept of synchronicity was first described in this terminology by Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, in the 1920s.

So I see a similarity here but I think they are actually different.  Would love to hear someone elses opinion on this. So keep looking for these in your life.  They just may be a key to something important you are supposed to be paying attention to.

Synchronicities

I have expressed my thoughts before about synchronicity (always have trouble spelling that).  I have experienced it many times in my life.  Not a huge deal, as I think we all have them and usually just don't pay attention to them.  My last one that really put a big smile on my face was a couple weeks ago.
I left the store a little early so I could go to the local country store to pick up a bag of oatmeal that I had ordered.  So it took me on a different highway to go home from there. I had the radio on to this oldie's country music.  A song was on by Jimmy Dean called Big Bad John.  The split second that it came to the part of the song when he sang about him going to the Promiseland, I looked up and was passing a country church with a huge sign (you guessed it) Promiseland!  It was really like I had just received a message from someone.  You could call it God, The Universe, My higher self,  what ever your belief.  But it was real and I smiled all the way home with a feeling that I had someone watching over me and they just wanted to give me a little nudge to remind me.
Shortly after this I read a notice somewhere about an author who believes in this and of course had written a book.  So I looked it up and ordered.  It is called Consider the Butterfly by Carol Lynn Pearson.  The title was revealed at the end of the book because she had a period of time that butterflys( in print) popped up 9 times within an hour in unrelated things for her.
She subscribes to the idea that it is God/Universe talking to us.  She calls it Meaningful coincidence.  As you probably know there are no coincidences in life.  They all have meaning if you take the time to look and SEE.  She has documented her syncronicities and been able to link them to her personal life and what is going on with her and her family.
So I have started my own file on my computer and titled it Messages from the Universe.  I know that is not original but I like it so borrowed it for my file.  I want to document my syncronicities and see if I can find some meaning for them and not just "oh, yea I noticed that"  Once I read a word in a book that was something unusual, don't remember what it was but that next day that name popped up on someones license plate.  I have not seen that particular word again.  Now that had to be synchronicity.
So I challenge any readers that I have to look for the syncronicities in your life and see if you can find the meaning for them.  I think it will be an interesting journey and after all we are all on our own journey aren't we?

A new year for me

Yesterday was my birthday and as I usually do on my birthday I try to recommit to better myself.  Usually it is to eat healthier and exercise.  So today was my second day on the treadmill, only a mile and my legs feel like mush.  More veggies and no bread for me.  And definitely no sweet treats.  Hubby's sister lives below us and still loves to bake for him.  Sometimes hard to not eat some of those cookies and cakes. (did I ever mention that I am a Carb-oholic?)  The weeks I stayed home with him while he was recovering I ate lunch with him which was usually a sandwich, chips, cookies and hot tea.  Glad to be back to the store where I eat my chef salad every day.

Here are a couple of my latest bags that I made.

For some reason my computer is super slow loading these pictures today.

So you think you can drive?

We saw hubby's internist Tue.  I came armed with a list of things to be sure to ask.  One of them came from my husband.  He said "can I drive?"  Dr. answer was " I don't know, I have never seen you drive"  I wondered how many times he has used that line.  Anyway the answers were all good.  Yes he may drive, yes they would be re scanning him for clots.  He is scheduled for the end of Mar. (3 months after the embolism) for a Doppler study of the leg veins.  He feels sure that the clots originated in that area.  He had one Doppler study done while he was in the hospital so they can compare.  He thinks that if all is good he will be able to come off the coumadin at that time. So hubby drove the 25 miles home from our visit.

We were at the orthopedic this morning and he is so pleased with the progress and the knee looks good.   Sed rate is dropping ( normal is 15 and we was over 70 at one point)  It is 32 now. This test indicated inflammation or infection. They are sure there is no infection in the knee but the elevation is due to the assult that his lung took. So plan one more recheck in a month and just get on with life. 

What a difference a month can make as he was still in ICU a month ago.  We are most thankful that things have turned out as they have.  He is one lucky duck!

I see a specialist about the lypoma (egg size fatty tumor)  in my arm next week. (170 miles from home)  Haven't said much about it as it has seemed minor compared to other problems. The reason I see the specialist is that it is located deep under my deltoid muscle and is the source of the pain I have had in that arm.  I kept telling the Dr. that it was in my arm just below my shoulder.  I do have a minor rotator cuff tear that he thinks I can heal with physical therapy, but have not wanted to start that till I have this other "thing" taken care of.  So there is our health updates.  Hope I can get back to writing silly stuff soon.  This is getting to be a bore! 

Healing Thoughts

We are still making progress.  Hubby doing better every day.  Has gone back to going down the driveway early in AM to pick up the paper and driving his sister to her local appointments.  He still likes me to drive most of the time and will on the trips to the Dr. apts.  But it is good that he is keeping busy and doing some of his normal stuff.  coumadin levels have been pretty stable on the dose he is taking so maybe he won't have tests quite so often.  He has follow up apts. with his ortho guy and the internist this week.  Have a list of questions to have answered.  But I think he is on the mend.  Just one month ago he was laying flat on his back in ICU so we have come along way. 

Making progress, I think.

On my last post I told about the scare we had over Christmas with the blood clots in my husbands lungs then the bleed in his knee.  The day after I wrote that he had to have the knee aspirated again for more blood build up.  We were pretty down as the Dr. was making noises that they might have to go in and take out the new knee hardware, wash it all out, and if they did he would be a great risk for more blood clots.  It looked like we were still in trouble.  His blood tests were still not very good, showing a possible infection.  But by the next day the swelling went down in his knee and gradually he started feeling better and eating better.  But he still has this apprehension that something will happen. We don't know how soon he should drive yet.  Hopefully we will find out soon.  His sed rate is still elevated but is coming down. He will be on coumadin therapy for several months and that is scary for both of us.
  So there we are: getting better yet afraid the other shoe will fall.  Oh, maybe the other shoe is ME.  I wasn't sure I wanted to put it on here but just to say that I have a shoulder that is giving me some grief and have been referred to another Dr. for further evaluation.  I am the only driver in this household of Seniors, and it is a worry to be responsible for every ones needs. I guess my fear is that if for some reason my husband should not be allowed to drive anymore it will be my responsibility and I can't have anything wrong with me. 
Somehow I know we will be OK.  Heck if we have to his 87 year old sister can get her drivers license back.  Nawwww bad idea.

He may be down but not out!

What a roller coaster we have been on.  As I have posted before  hubby had a knee replacement on Oct 30.  Rehab was finished up around the 20th of Dec.  Then on Christmas Eve I took him to ER and at first we weren't sure what was wrong but knew something was terribly wrong.  He had complained of pain in the left side of his chest all day Sun and it got worse on Mon, (Xmas Eve) He was blaming it on running the leaf blower on Friday (actually sucking leaves with it)  Thought he had over worked some muscles he hadn't been using.  When he started getting real weak on Mon. I took him in.  After alot of testing they found he had his small arteries in his lungs full of small blood clots plus a large one in the right pulmonary artery.  Also had pneumonia down in that lower rt lobe.  Straight to ICU!!  What a shocker for us.  He told me later he was afraid he would die.  He was really miserable for the first 2 days plus he started running fever.  Was on 3 different IV antibiotics and the blood thinner shots in belly.  Got him on coumadin and he got better and came home on the 30th, Sat.  Oh, and as an incidental they found he had gallstones.  Probably had them for years.  So he was improving at home till the next Sat. (which was last Sat) He got up in the night and couldn't bear weight on that leg.  All day it got worse and knee was swollen.  So at noon we headed back to ER.  Took 8 hrs to get diagnosed and treated.  He had a bleed into that knee.  Had it aspirated and wrapped.  He has to stay on the coumadin so he won't throw any more blood clots and this is one of the risks.  Saw his ortho guy yesterday and he says it is OK and we are just taking it one day at a time.  Will follow up with his Internist Thurs and see what the plans will be on the coumadin treatment.  Took him to lunch today and his appetite is getting better.
You know when you sign those medical releases to have surgery you never really think anything will happen to YOU. 

So how was your Christmas??

Bill Gates: Smart man

Bill Gates recently gave a Commencement speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality a...nd how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.


Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes; learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
If you agree, pass it on.
If you can read this - Thank a teacher!
If you are reading it in English - Thank a soldier!!See More

Where are your priorities?

Copied this from a friend and thought it was worth sharing.  I thought it was very good and hope you will too, especially in today's world.


A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnais...e jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles roll
ed into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’
The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed..
‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—-your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—-and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else—-the small stuff.
‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.
Take care of the golf balls first—-the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

Christmas tree is up

Tree is up and it smells so good, like fresh pine trees. 

Ever feel like this?

I feel like this every year.  So much hype and guilt.  I am sure many feel this way.  Also envy for those who don't.  Envy for the happy families that gather and share and give to each other.  So for those of us who don't get invited to events and who's family is spread out and some you barely know it is a hard time of the year.  I always feel good after New Years Day.  That seems like a time for new beginnings.  I also feel I try to give thru the year as the occasion comes up and sometimes for no occasion that I just won't be made to feel guilty.  So if you don't get a card from me its not because I didn't think of you, I am just waiting for New Years Day!

Spread your goodness!

Last week I had sent a message to my daughter telling her the list of all the things I had going on that week, one of them being the teaching at the Fiber Guild meeting on how to do Zipper art.  I make flowers that can be worn in hair or pinned on and I enjoy doing the zipper art.  You can see some of them in this picture.  Anyway her response to my litany was:  "Spread your goodness Mamma"
I just thought it was the sweetest thing anyone had said to me.
So YOU go out there and spread your goodness!  We are to materialistic, share something of yourself, maybe teach someone how to do something or just be there to listen if thats what they need.

OK enough of this mushy stuff.  Back to work.  Making the little sleeves with elastic on each end to store plastic bags in.  Have a customer who ordered at least 5.  Of course I have to embellish them.  Will take a picture later.  Also got more orders from a gal I met at the last craft show.  She has ordered 3 sets of 6 mug rugs before Christmas plus she wants a rug or 2.

Thought for the day:  A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed: Henrik Ibsen