Crazy Stress

We are under some crazy stress around here and I am well aware of the toll it can take. I make a conscious effort to find some time to wind down but relaxing seems to elude me.

Yesterday I worked and had to stop for groceries on the way home. My feet were hurting like crazy and this was not my idea of how to spend an hour or so after work but we needed food! People needed to be fed and the cupboard was looking very bare.

After loading the groceries into the car I headed out for the drive home. Now I was really depressed because daylight was fast disappearing. I didn't get to enjoy the day and already night was marching in.

And then it happened..... a gift. What gift could I possibly find on the drive home? A beautiful sunset, one of those that can only happen at this time of year. Winter light creates the most beautiful shades of pink, purple and blue. All my cranky thoughts immediately left my head and I just focused on the colors and the bright pink reflecting off the underside of the clouds. It was a Maxfield Parrish sky. No pictures.... I was driving!!

During these stressful days I find myself talking to my grandmother, long gone from this earth. I thanked her and the Big Guy for sending me that sunset. It just said to me, breathe, take time.

I'm so glad that some of you are crocheting along, using the Emergency Room Scarf pattern. Vee, it appears that you've figured out Row 3, if not, let me know. My friend Sandy says that the pattern works with a beginning chain of 18. See, this is why I'm not a pattern writer!

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Emergency Room Scarf

UPDATE: I'm going to get my crochet hook out this evening and stitch this up to see where the directions might not be clear. Check back.

It's time to share the pattern for the Emergency Room Scarf. Why is it called that? Because I completed the piece while waiting with the Other Mother in the Emergency Room. Actually, I only had a small ball of yarn with me so it became an Emergency Room neck warmer.

Do you crochet or knit? Do you want to learn? There are plenty of online craft courses that can show you how. Like I said before, the rhythmic nature of the work is very relaxing. Those who are crocheters or knitters, I encourage you to go to the library and get a book with different stitches. If you have the basic stitch pattern, you can create any number of things. I used one of these stitch designs for this scarf.



EMERGENCY ROOM SCARF

American crochet terms.

Yarn - DK weight
Crochet hook - H

V stitch - dc, ch 1, dc in same stitch

Shell stitch - 5 dc in same stitch

CH 17.

Row 1: Dc in 5th ch from hook. Skip next 2 ch, shell in next ch, skip 2 ch, V-stitch in next ch, skip 2 ch, shell in next ch, skip 2 ch, V-stitch in last ch. Ch 3, turn.

Row 2: 2 dc in first V-stitch, V-stitch in top of next shell, shell in next V-stitch, V-stitch in top of next shell. 3 dc in last V-stitch. Ch 4, turn.

Row 3: Dc in same stitch (counts as a V-stitch), shell in next V-stitch, V-stitch in next shell, shell in next V-stitch. V-stitch in top of ch from previous row. Ch 3, turn.

Repeat row 2 and 3 till you reach desired length.

Finish off, weave in ends.

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You can use any size yarn, just adjust the crochet hook to match.

Have fun with this.

Squatters Camp

On my way to work on Wednesday morning I spotted something really ridiculous. Our store is in the same area as a Best Buy. For those of you who live elsewhere in the world, Best Buy is an electronics retailer. Think TV's, cameras, etc.

There was a tent set up near the front door. Already on Wedneday morning. It goes without saying that it's cold here in northern Illinois. Too cold to be camping out for two days unless you're moose hunting. They're not moose hunting.

Yesterday, on the way to my sister's house, same sight. This time there were a dozen or so tents set up in front of the Best Buy in her town and snaking around the corner. This is just so crazy.

I'm very tired or I'd go downstairs and grab the sales flyer that's sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm pretty sure that they are not giving away any merchandise and short of that I'm not making any herculean effort to stand in line much less camp out.

The TV news crew was set up doing a story on the Sale Squatters. What passes for news these days!!

How about you? Are you going to catch any Black Friday sales? I'm going to be working one! Ugh. People already started acting wierd on Wednesday night when I worked. I'm sure to have some tales to tell.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday of all because it's centered around family, food and thankfulness.

My sister hosted this year and I'm forever grateful. I worked thirty hours this week and lack of energy would have made it impossible for me to pull the whole thing together.

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions? I know Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving, although a littler earlier but how about the rest of the world, is there any similar holiday across the globe?

Puttering Around

Finally, a day off work! I'm savoring every moment of the peace and quiet. Who would think that you could enjoy doing laundry and puttering around the house? I am doing just that. No TV, no radio or any other sound than the white noise of the new washing machine and dryer. The puppies are even cooperating by not barking when they hear the sound of the school bus. Somehow they think that no one is allowed to walk down their street. Crazy dogs.

The Other Mother is s-l-o-w-l-y on the mend. Her doctor has order home health care to come in a couple times a week and some physical therapy also. Other than that she is somewhat laying low. But I know how she thinks!! I REALLY do. This may sound crazy but one of the first things I did when she was released from the hospital was to hide the mops!!! Like I said, I know how she thinks.

When the Farmer and I got home from work last night she was quite agitated because she couldn't find the mops! Someone is always home but the Son works 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. at the rehab center and so he sleeps all day and probably wouldn't hear if she falls on a slippery floor. The Occupational Therapist at the hospital warned her about her risky behavior and I assured him that the moment she was feeling better she'd attempt to jump back into her routines.

Mops are hidden. Foiled again.

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Thanks for all the comments and good thoughts sent our way. They are greatly appreciated. I am consciously taking time for myself, doing a few creative things that soothe my mind and help me relax. Right now the number one thing is crocheting.

This needle art has a rhythm that allows you to create a white noise in your mind. The hands move, the yarn slides through your fingers, the pattern repeats, the colors please the eyes and it's all very relaxing. I'm producing piles and piles of things that I have no plan for. Eventually, when things slow down a bit I'll fire up the camera and list them on my Etsy shop, but for now I'm just working in hook and yarn just for the pleasure of it.

It's time to announce the winner of the Emergency Room Neckwarmer. This is the piece I finished in the hours I was waiting in the ER with the Other Mother. I always draw the name the old fashioned way...... written on paper and drawn out of my special 25th Anniversary brandy snifter purchased at Goodwill many years ago.

I'm including a crocheted flower pin to keep the neckwarmer in place.



And the winner is.........



Lisa D.

Please contact me via e-mail (see my sidebar) with your address and I'll get this in the mail to you as soon as I have another day off.

For those of you who requested the pattern for this piece I'll dig around for it this evening and try to post it tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting with me today.

Rag Garland Tutorial

I lieu of a Monday Morning Staff Meeting I'm going to republish the tutorial for a rag garland. Yesterday I showed you photos of my Halloween version and the tutorial (originally published in 2008) is for a spring garland. But, never mind.... you can do this in any color scheme for any season.

I wanted to post it today to allow you to gather together the supplies so that perhaps you can work on one with the kids after eating turkey dinner!

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This is an easy project that the whole family can help create. I do these in all color combinations for different holidays. The Halloween garland can be especially fun as I include strips of sparkling black sequin fabric to give it a little extra bling. Unfortunately for this garland I wasn't able to find any pastel sequined fabric. I like to use crisp fabrics with some body. In addition I press them using heavy or extra crisp spray starch.

The first thing you're going to do is decide on the color palette. I just went into my stash and pulled some pieces of fabric in pink, blue, yellow and green. Decide what you want your main color to be because you're going to cut more of those strips. My main color is a solid pink.

Next cut the fabric into 8-inch strips using a rotary cutter with a pinking blade. This prevents everything from raveling. If you don't have a pinking blade just use the one you have. This is, of course, the adults only portion of the project. I'm sure I don't have to elaborate on the dangers of a rotary cutter and I won't relate the details of my own accident!



Then we'll cut those 8 inch pieces and cut the strips to a width of 1 to 1-1/4 inches wide. This doesn't have to be perfect. After cutting a few strips you should be able to eyeball it. Once you start cutting these strips it goes pretty fast. Just pile all the strips together.



I used 275 strips to make a 6-foot garland. If you count how many you get from one of your 8 inch strips, you can quickly calculate your number. This, of course, depends on the width of your fabric. I used both 45 inch and 60 inch wide fabric. You can always cut more, or if you have too many you can use the extra strips to make a smaller garland to drape around a glass hurricane.



Now you're going to cut a length of jute or heavy twine. This gives a nice draping base for the garland. I cut the jute longer than the final desired length. Tie a loop in one end, leave the other end unlooped until you're finished.

Start tying on the strips. This is where the kids can get involved. Just loop over once, pull tight.....



and slide the strip down.



Keep tying and sliding. You don't need to follow any particular pattern, just make sure you're not bunching all the color together in one spot. The reason I cut more of the main color is that I like to put two or three strips of the main color followed by four or five multi-colored strips.



This garland was finished in one evening while I was watching TV.

I have a rough sawn cedar mantle and use straight pins to attach it to the wood. I've also draped them over the fireplace screen or across an entertainment center.




Have fun with this. It's so easy and kids love to do this!

A Little Late

Halloween is past and Thanksgiving is upon us. Since things have been so busy around here I haven't had the time to share pictures of my Halloween decorations. I would have skipped it this year but it was my turn to host the neighborhood bunco group and I enjoy planning and decorating for a party.

Here's the bar set-up.



This is our new bar cabinet and mirror. Here's a narrow view of the setup.



Halloween lends itself to running wild with creative ideas. I served Bloody Marys.... of course! The framed halographic picture is from the dollar store.



I also served Toxic Tonic, made by mixing V8 Splash juice with coconut rum. The orange color of the juice is perfect and the label was a download from Martha Stewart's site. The drink dispenser and stand were a bargain - $19 at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I had a sale coupon so it only cost me $16.



The lava lamp was tucked in the back of a closet, a long ago decoration in my daughter's room.



The ghost on the mirror is also a download from Martha Stewart. I traced the design onto freezer paper, cut it out and taped it on the mirror.

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Notice the dollar store crows. This set up was the Crow Bar.

A close up of the mantle.



I love my chalkboards. Usually I write the menu on one of the boards. The candlesticks were old brass that I painted with spray paint. To be truthful I was tired of constantly polishing those things.

Rag garland on the fireplace screen. Very, very easy to do. I have them in colors for every season.



All kinds of jars from Goodwill, filled with plastic bones and eyeballs. Behind the jars I draped black tulle.



I served comfort food, meatball sliders, macaroni and cheese and a salad.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my decorating efforts and perhaps you'll get some inspiration for next year.

Thanks for visiting with me today.

And the Beat Goes On

Amidst all the drama that swirls around us lately, we've discovered that the beat goes on. There are chores and responsibilies that remain static no matter what else befalls us. The truth is that at our age it gets a little pressing.

We are so grateful that our niece showed up last night while I was at work to visit the Other Mother and make the trip to the pharmacy for her meds. This woman is a bundle of energy, taking time out of raising her five girls to help us out. Thank God for family and friend is all I can say!

In between working a 12-20 hour job that has turned into 30 hours and dealing with the Other Mother's health issues, I've been trying to keep on top of my commitment to get the maintenance and updating chores on track. Translation: I'm painting again, trying to make that gallon work out just right so I'm not buying yet ANOTHER gallon.

As I near the bottom of the can and realize that it might just not be enough to finish a wall, I start hoping for the Loaves and Fishes miracle!

I'm in love with the color that I chose for the laundry room. It's from Sherwin Williams (my favorite paint) and it's called Austere Gray. Does it look austere to you, or grey? It's a beautiful shade of bluish, greenish gray.



The Farmer saw the gleam in my eye concerning this color and he's afraid of arriving home to find that the entire first floor has been painted in this hue. No worries, just the laundry room, hall and half bath.

Also, the fairly new but very cheap washing machine decided to start making noises like a piece of space junk falling to Earth. A repair visit, parts and labor would amount to upwards of half of what we paid for thing so we decided to bit the bullet and replace both it and the ancient dryer with new front loading machines.



The cost of some of these machines make you take pause. We got the basic set with a mininum of bells and whistles, no steam and washwoman to run the things. The cost of the stacking bases irked me but we signed on the dotted line, they were delivered and the old ones hauled away.



There's an added benefit to the front loaders.... it's hypnotic to watch them run through their cycles. I've been known to spend 20 minutes or so sitting on the bench mindlessly gazing at the action.

I was alarmed at the apparent lack of water. Do any of you have a front loader? It just doesn't seem like enough water to do the job. But after watching a cycle or 10 or 20 I've figured out that it gets the clothes plenty wet then drains off that water and the dirt removed, and repeats this cycle a number of times. This process means that the clothes aren't sloshing around in dirty water for 15 minutes but that the dirty water is removed throughout the process. At least that's what I deduce.

Do you have a front loader? Love it, hate it?

Thanks for visiting with me today. I will have pictures of my Halloween decor to share in the next couple of days. Better late than never, huh?

The Mother was Mugged

There's no end to the drama in our lives right now. You read the blog title right, the Mother was mugged.

While walking home from church in broad daylight, two teenage boys attempted to snatch the Mother's purse. This was on the busiest street in a very large northern Illinois city. She grabbed the purse back and asked, "What are you doing?"

She said that she simply couldn't believe what was happening. The teen grabbed her purse a second time.

"Stop that!" she said.

When she grabbed the purse back the second time the would-be purse snatcher fell to the ground, at which point the Mother proceeded to whack him a few times with the handbag.

It all sounds so funny and uplifting, granny fights off purse snatchers. But you and I know that if these perpetrators had possessed weapons the outcome could have been different. The police said she was very lucky. At 1:30 a.m. the next morning a teen was shot and killed nearby.

What happened next has my family and I saddened and disappointed. It seems the local TV station visited the retirement home where the Mother lives, intent on doing a story about a senior citizen party being hosted in the building. Residents talked to the news crew, identifying the Mother as the victim that had been reported on the evening news.

No longer was the Mother anonymous and the TV reporter thought it would be a terrific story for the nightly news. Really? They approached her as asked for an interview. The Mother enthusiastically agreed. Really?

The Mother didn't dare tell my sister or myself because I think she knew what our respose would be. The news reached my sister through the grapevine and she had a discussion with the Mother, advising her NOT to put her face out there and what the implications of doing such an interview might be.

Never mind, the Mother had her chance at 15 minutes of fame and against our wishes she did the interview. I called the news director at the TV station and asked him if he was aware that the Mother has dementia and is not in a position to make good decisions in matter such as this. Five minutes later the reporter called me and we discussed the situation. I did not demand that they kill the story (I should have) but I asked them to consider all the implications. I remind them that they could cover the story without revealing and exposing the victim.

They ran the story on the evening news. The response was overwhelming and they called the Mother to do a second interview. She agreed.

It seems that 15 minutes of fame is a tantalizing siren's song. The Mother does the second interview without our knowledge and this is where things get strange.

Before day's end the Mother's granddaughter in Australia has seen the interview which was linked on Facebook. News organizations across the country have picked up the video and run it on their news programs. It's gone viral on You Tube.

Wow, what a wonderful, connected, linked, instantaneous society we live in. I'm being facetious of course. The news people at the local station have gotten what they wanted, a "funny" story about a grandmother beating off a would-be attacker. They got ratings and national attention.

And the Mother? She got her 15 minutes of fame and is riding on the rush of attention. The problem is that 15 minutes is over pretty quickly and we know what's on the other side. We've watched for years as she's struggled with the loss of memory and the agitation and anxiety that it brings. Will some criminal element remember her face and where she lives and retaliate? Probably not, but the emotional and psychological fallout on the other side of this is going to be hug.

I feel like the Mother was victimized twice, once by the teenagers and again by the news crew.

And no, I will not be linking to the video.

War of the Boscas

Yesterday the Other Mother struggled with the flu. On orders from our Son-the-Nurse I kept pushing fluids and making sure that she was eating and not putting herself in dangerous situations (walking down a flight of stairs).

At about 2:30 she made an incredibly rare request, "I think I should probably go to the hospital." Oh boy, let me tell you that if she requests help she's really in trouble. So I fired up the car as quickly as I could and navigated her down the stairs and into the car. Off to the emergency room we went.

Let me tell you a little background about the Other Mother. She was born in North Dakota to Polish immigrant parents. These were no-nonsense farmers who engaged in incredibly difficult physical labor every day of their lives. Her mother never helped with the farm chores except to tend to their chickens, so when the father fell ill the son left for the city to get a job to pay for his medication. Since her mother refused to do farm chores (seeing her chores inside the farmhouse as quite enough) the work fell to the Other Mother and her sister, probably only 10 and 12 years old at the time. Like I said, they were no nonsense and the theme formed that "work was God". Work and chores take precedence over anything and everything else.

Back to the tale. I pull the car up to the ER doors and duck inside for a wheelchair, admonishing the Other Mother to STAY PUT. I return, lock the wheels on the chair and she swings her legs out. This is when things go very wrong. She's so weak at this point that she kinds of melts before me, crumpling back and starting to slide out. OH MY!!! This has actually happened before.

I yelled at a passerby to get someone from the ER to help me. The Other Mother now swings into her I'm-tough-as-nails-and-I'm-going-to-get-myself-outta-this-car....nobody's-gonna-help-me mode. All this struggling and pulling is now making her slide further.

"Just stop it please!" I say. "You're making things so much worse".

All to no avail. She's gonna do what she's gonna do. A nurse arrives and we lift and navigate her into the chair. WHEW!

The ER is packed. It's full chaos mode. Later I discover that they've actually had to call in another doctor to help with the workload. She's registered and triaged and we return to the waiting room to wait. It's 3 p.m.

How long did we wait? This long:



I brought along a small ball of yarn and my needle, thinking that I might be able to get a little crocheting in whilst we waited. Oh yeah......



One yard of waiting and more. I finished a neck warmer and could have done two more if I'd had the yarn.

There were some very sick children in the room and it was hearbreaking to seem them literally passed out in their mothers arms. I'm am reminded that the very elderly are like two-year-olds and teenagers all rolled up in the same package.



As I said, the Other Mother was raised to be tough as nails. There's a term in Polish - Bosca - which roughly translates to "Boss Lady". Let's just say that the Bosca is in charge and running the show at all times, and a Bosca always gets her way. The Other Mother epitomizes the Bosca tradition.

After some tests are done it's determined that she needs fluids and at least an overnight stay in the hospital to gain some strength. Time is eternal in the ER. All tests take an hour or two. Slow and steady as we go...... and soon it's past midnight!!

She's finally transported to her room and then the fun begins. She wants her house slippers so that she can walk to the bathroom. Walk??? No, you just collapsed a few hours ago and you're too weak for that task.

In walks a nurse right out of central casting. She's probably 6 foot tall and zaftig. This woman eminates power..... and she's Polish! She's a Bosca of the highest level. The War of the Bosca's is on!!!

The nurse takes information from us, including the fact that Other Mother does not use her cane in the house, navigating by holding on to furniture and walls.

"There vill be NO vall valking in my hospital!"

Oh my goodness. This is going to be quite interesting.

As the Farmer and I walk out into the freezing parking lot at 1:30 a.m., he turns to me and says, "Good luck to the nursing staff".

So, that's the status here "At Home". I'll keep you updated.

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In thanks for your friendship and care, I'll be giving away this "Emergency Room Neck Warmer" to one of my readers. Please leave me a comment and I'll through your name in the bucket.

More later..........

Monday Morning Staff Meeting - the Long Time No See Edition

Good morning everyone! So sorry for my long absence. Thanks to all my loyal friends who e-mailed me inquiring about our health and well-being. It never ceases to amaze that I've managed to meet such wonderful people thanks to the magic of the internet.

We are somewhat healthy. The Son works at a nursing home/rehabilitation center and it's like a daycare facility, when one person gets sick the illness spreads like wildfire. The flu has made it's way through our house and now the Other Mother is sick (went to Urgent Care yesterday) with things going downhill as I type this entry. The Son, R.N. will be home in a few minutes and will make the assessment as to whether to go to the E.R. It's a good thing to have a medical professional under the roof when dealing with the health of a 90-yr-old.

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I've got a 3 x 5 index card here on my desk with notes about all the things I have to tell you. Hopefully I'll be able to do that in the next couple of days and get myself back into the writing/blogging groove. Writing is a habit that we must cultivate. Can you remember the last time you wrote something BEFORE the internet came along? Unless you're a writing professional it was probably in high school.

I've said before that my high school English teacher is cheering from heaven about the fact that so many naturally talented writers are emerging from this technology. And she's equally happy about the fact that the medium has leveled the playing field and given exposure to those people who would never otherwise have been noticed.

I've said before that Jesse White Crow is one of my favorites. He walked across the United States, stopping in public libraries to post his entries. He composes the most spectacular sentences. I remember reading as he went along and saying to myself, "If only I could put words together like this".

Here's my all-time favorite White Crow sentence:

"In a minute the coyote is over by the dry creek bed singing it's painful woes to a night that makes all of creation wish they'd mastered fire."

JESSE WHITE CROW

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I'd like to introduce you to another wonderful writer. Her name is Lucy and she lives in a 100-yr-old Victorian home in the north of England. Oh, be still my heart. Her blog is called Attic 24. I don't know what the 24 stands for but she does indeed have an attic from which she regularly takes photos. This is such a good idea I just might steal it although the view from my window isn't quite as breathtaking as hers.

ATTIC 24

Whilst poking around online, looking for crochet patterns or fellow crochet enthusiasts, I found her site and was immediately drawn in. Her crocheted blankets are such beauties of color and design, they make your heart sing. But stop and read because she shares her life with such beautiful words.

Don't miss her trip to Dorset with photos of her Mum's cottage! Omigosh, I want to book a flight as we speak. Can you imagine the cozy wonderfulness (is that a word?) of such a place?

VISIT TO DORSET

Love the lime green door and that old Esse stove makes me want to curl up with some yarn and a crochet hook.

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There will be more tomorrow including an update on the Other Mother. See you then and thanks for your loyalty, support and friendship. It means everything to me.

(Sorry, no photos today - just words.)