Bariatric Ward

   I got my spring basket quilt top sewn together. It has vintage blocks. I added a border, need to get it quilted. The handles are rick rac entwined, I wanted to save the blocks.

   I have some batik butterflies I will cut out during conference. It helps to keep me from falling asleep. 

We did enjoy conference. Wonderful talks

   Duncan is in his room. Bruce is trimming his nails and Andrew is off to his mission prep class. Don't know when he will be ready to go.

   I only dozed off a couple of times during conference. Had to get up once last night to put Bruce's leg back on the bed. I hate it but it is a sign he is doing better. I am not nice when I need sleep.

  I took my circle quilt top to the quilters. I finished my embroidery quilt top, will need to get a backing for it. I started a butterfly top during conference. I cut out the parts, need to iron it in place and will machine quilt it. I have several quilts I have started so will pick one to finish. I like to keep busy so I will stay out of trouble.

We had the windows opened today, the dog rolled in something so it kinda stinks in this house...

I made a bucket list and invited my sisters to go with me. Any of these you want to do avec moi? Have you done them already?

Castle tour in Ireland and Scotland - spend the night in a castle

Pay for a strangers meal

Quilt retreat in a southern mansion

Quilting cruise to Alaska, walk on a glacier

Ride a camel, ride an elephant

Ride in a hot air balloon

Ride down the Mississippi River in a steam boat

tour Mark Twain house in Hartford, Connecticut 

Skinny dip - Bruce says he's already been but he would go with me, my sisters don't want to go...

Visit Canada, Bruce says he's been to Quebec, there is a castle there. My sisters say I need to go to Niagara Falls, Bruce said he would go too.

Win a viewers choice ribbon at the fair

Visit Edgar Allen Poe home in New York

Visit Ernest Hemingway home in Key West, Florida 

Visit Ray Bradbury home in Waukegan, Il 

Bruce added to his list: salmon fishing in Alaska, sit on a beach in Jamaca, go on a mission

 I will do the quilting retreat in Alaska cruise while he fishes, together but apart...

   On Thursday Bruce had a fun, unique experience. They took him to the Bariatric ward at the hospital which is for very obese people that can't walk. There they have a lift and a track to practice walking. They put Bruce in a harness and hooked him up. They are able to adjust the amount of weight on his legs. It took a couple of tries but he was able to stand for a couple of minutes. They are trying to get his quads, thigh muscles to kick in.

  My sister singing in the Mo Tab for general conference. It happens twice a year. There are six sessions, one for priesthood and one for women. My sistah is the blonde on the top row first one on the left, in the pinkish dress. I got chills when they sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". Did you feel it?

  

Eighteen Months Since the SCI

   Our caregiver was late, three Sunday's in a row, but who is counting? Me obviously He says he will get up earlier. Bruce wanted to go to Elgin ward and he would have to leave here by 8:15. We made it, I was still stressing. My left eye twitches when I am doing too much. It means I need to close my eyes and relax. I did after they left since my church begins at 1pm.

   Easter Sunday, we had a lamb roast, red baby taters and green salad. I didn't feel like making a feast since it was fast Sunday and we didn't have family. Andrew ate with his friends from church. So we had a lot of leftovers. 

  On Monday Bruce was again very stiff from the spasms he has been having. They did a lot of stretching and ranging to get him loosened up. We figure he sleeps so deeply he stiffens up. Bruce said every time he moved, he had spasms and couldn't sleep. They are thinking of increasing his medication. 

   Andrew informs me before work today that he needs dinner ready by 5:00pm since he is going on a singles branch activity to Baker to go bowling. Yes, sir, I made a lamb curry (leftover Easter feast) with sliced apples, celery, maters, and rice and it was ready by 5:15 in time for him to rendezvous with his friends. Give me strength.

  The dog is shedding like crazy. It looks like tuffs of batting on the floor. It does not fall off when we go for walks.

   I put the last border on my Aunt Ruthies Farm Stand panel. The designer is coming the end of April to teach us and there is a competition for using the panel in a quilt. Will have to get it quilted before the class. I did a lot of the hand work last Oct. while Bruce was in recovery for a month in Boise. 

   Bruce said he broke his record for standing, 2 min and 45 secs. 

More spasms, less work, Bruce came home from therapy early because of the spasms. They also stopped at Burger King. Did they bring me something? Bruce says we know you always order salads and they were out of salads. I'm still miffed. The smell of hamburger and French fires is celestial. 

    Well it has been year and half since the spinal cord injury. Bruce has movement in his legs and feet. He is still really weak. This is the time of recovery. They figure the average for regaining what you will regain happens by this time. Maybe since he is older it will take longer. He is still improving so we are still moving forward.

    

Bruce's Birthday

Monday Bruce was really stiff and it took an hour of stretching and ranging before he was able to stand. He tightens up like that after a night of spasms.

  Tuesday went to an estate sale in Summerville with Carma and found a few fun items. I have been collecting vintage embroidery to put in a quilt. I really appreciate the hand work and people don't use the dresser linens any more. Then we stopped at the second hand store behind Bronson lumber and then to Mac D's for a healthy mango/pineapple smoothie. Thank you for a morning off!

   Pool time on Wednesday Bruce was very stiff and not able to push off the side of the pool. He asked if he could march in place and he did that, then he wanted to do a step up on the step in the pool and with assistance he did that.

  Bruce and Duncan went to the urologist in Baker and Bruce was given a clean bill of health for his kidneys. All the medication had side effects and that has disappeared! Yeah!

  I went to a pot luck with some friends. I took a blueberry cream pie with graham cracker crust I found from my Cat Who Mystery Cookbook. There was enough left over for the boys and Bruce.

  Thursday was Bruce's birthday. He is 64 years young. We went to lunch at the Sub shop. They have a back door entrance with a nice ramp. Trouble was a car was parked there. Kathy got the young girl to move her car. I had the chicken fajita salad, Andrew met us there and he and Duncan had the 12 inch subs, Bruce had a half a sub sandwich. Andrew took half a day off, Goss Motors is very kind to let him have days off. Bruce then went to therapy and after therapy we, Andrew, Bruce and I went to the movies. We saw Zootopia, there were only about 20 people in the theatre, we laughed out loud, it was a delightful movie. Andrew liked the sloths the best.

  Bruce has added another chore to his list. He can snap up his pants and hang them on a hanger in the closet. This evening he tried to put the trash can by the road for the truck. He could do it with assistance. He couldn't turn the can around without it dumping on him so his assistant Duncan did the turning. He folds his own towels now and sometimes puts the silverware away. He is in charge of his medication and changes out his weekly pill box by himself. 

   They are teaching Bruce to put on his socks and sandles, so with assistance he tries that every now and then.

Quilt Show

   On Tuesday Bruce had three therapists working with him trying to fix the uneven hip joints. He now has exercises showing him how to increase the strength in his right hip. 

   At pool on Wednesday Bruce was holding weights so he could stand evenly. A weight on one side made him stand up with hips alined. And he did it without a neck brace.

  Finished the binding on two quilts and tied the minion lap quilt. It is bright.

Wednesday made dinner for Rosala, she is ill, tried a new recipe, shouldn't do that to others, just stick to barbecue sauce. 

    On Friday we set up the quilt show at the church. We had a lot of help so it went fast. Saturday we had 98 quilts and 84 people came. Next year's theme is log cabin. I already found some log cabin pincushions we can use for door prizes. 

My first chevron, yes the rows go up and down similar to my life instead of even ups and downs. It is the bright fabric of Kaffe Fawcett, I am stepping out of my comfort zone to use his line however I like the flowers and Bruce likes fish, who would have guessed they would go nicely in a quilt?

This quilt features the plus sign, reminds me of Tetris game.

This is falling squares with the minion fabric.

This is have square triangles. I couldn't resist, cheddar and indigo and the Scottish thistle for Bruce.

This is called coins, like coins stacked.

Its my therapy to do quilts. These are the finished results. I have ventured off rectangles and squares to triangles. I'm a big girl now. Ta da

 

Waiting for Spring

Bruce said he walked on his knees in pool time.

   Hokan has been coming over to dig up some lilies and Iris that have been overtaking Bruce's grapes. It is a muddy wet job. He is raising money for spring wrestling. Thank you for the hard work. 

  On Monday, Teija brought over some wonderful chicken, taters and carrot stew and for dessert there was ice cream chosen by her son, Carson, 3, who likes the Neapolitan flavor.

   Wednesday we ate at the spaghetti feed Angel fundraiser at the high school. There were a lot of people there. Bruce had fun talking to all his friends at school. We gave Rosala and Debbie a week off.

   Thursday Amy brought over my favorite dish in the whole world, crispy chicken, a fresh green salad with avocado and a red jello cake with strawberries. I grew up in Virginia and KFC crispy chicken style is my choice for my birthday dinner! You read my mind.

   I picked up my costumes from Amal and the Night visitors. I gave one outfit to Bro. Hawks, he likes to dress up as a shepherd at Christmas time to deliver gifts to the families he visits from the church, a clever idea and going the extra mile. The rest I will donate to the Seventh Day Adventist church for their yearly gift to the community of the nativity. Seems people wear the costumes home and some are not returned. Some costumes are getting older and worn out too. They need a costume Nazi...

  I worked on the Quilt Quester's yearly challenge. It is a panel that needs embroidery work. It is from Aunt Ruthie's Farm Stand.

  Bruce had spasms for about half an hour this morning around five, his legs just shake and fall off the bed. Yes, we push his legs over on the bed but each spasm moves his legs, sometimes they go up in the air and sometimes they jerk around. Will need a nap today.

   Bruce's standing goals have changed, he is having difficulties with his hips, one is higher than the other. They do stretches to get him straightened out. 

    At night Relief Society (church women's meeting) we learned how to stay spirituality strong. Trouble is when times get tough, no matter how many trials you can handle, you turn to Christ and he answers by sending family, friends and neighbors. 

   We also learned how to give a massage. Pain/body aches is an outward manifestation of inward turmoil. The philosophy of the day .25 please.

   

Dan and Heidie Arrive

We had a pretty good week. I didn't have any melt downs and didn't snap at Bruce, at least he didn't say anything to me.

So probably something will happen this week. 

I got another quilt top cut out and will sew on it this week. I hope.

Haven't heard if Dan and fam will come tomorrow or not. Trying to clean up slow and steady today. 

 A lady came to church that we have been working with. She read a scripture, made comments and answered questions.

I finished my two quilting murder mysteries. they were fun 

  A family came and pruned the cherry trees and the apricot for us. They said they were the best cherries, better than the stores. They will come back later and do the peach, apple and raspberries. They have to wait for the raspberries to turn green to be able to cut out the dead canes. Bruce is pleased. I got to watch Garfield the movie with them.

Sonnet came and walked the dog. 

Monday - Bishop Huntsman came over to get a Prince Charming costume. He is taking the girls to a dance tomorrow. I charge cookies now since I have 'closed' the shop.

  Went to Gary's house to pick up some fabric he was giving away. Rosala went with me. It was mostly very nice tapestry fabric for curtains. Rosala kept an alphabet panel for a baby quilt and some flannel. I kept some gorgeous red fabric for pillows. The rest will go to UFO for the ladies to use in projects. Thank you for thinking of us 

Gary, may your heart heal. 

Thursday - Our son, Dan, his wife, Heidie and two daughters have arrived. We are watching the Minions movie. We went to pumpkin park and took family pictures this morning. Dan and Heidi had a wedding photo taken there so they do family photos there now.

  Got another blue and white jelly roll so will have something for a SR quilt next year. 

Andrew took the day off work to spend time with the fam.

   A pink and purple stained glass four patch, Princess quilt. Coralee likes purple and took this home with her. She made her own sandwich, and helped her dad make the sprinkle cake! It was a full two days, we were worn out. 

 Friday - We all went out to eat plus Carol cause Dan wanted to catch up with her. We went  to Asian Fusion, Bruce gets curry, I got pad tai and the rest ordered  sweet and sour, rice and other yummy stuff. This weeks goal was to stop eating when you feel full. I just had a little more on my plate and didn't want to toss it. Oh well I will do better.

 Dan baked a cake and iced it so the boys are eating it and I had a small piece and then I kept slicing more small pieces. See how bad I am? It was a good cake.

  A man, Michael came over and wanted to rent my white fur cape. He is a photographer and has rented stuff before. He is doing a series of photos with young women called "dangerous curves" they are modest photos with women in dresses holding dangerous weapons. So his idea is to put this six foot eleven inch girl in a white dress with the white cape and a necklace on her forehead standing in the snow holding two crossed Bowie knives with 10 inch blades. His first photo was his granddaughter with a gun. If he can come up with twelve ideas he wants to do a calendar. His name is Michael Bove, he is Mary Lu Pierce's significant other. She worked at the middle school. He entered pictures of his ballerinas in the fair and won a ribbon last year. He did ballerinas with different backgrounds in Oregon instead of in a dance studio where you normally see them.

  I think he should do older women quilting. Tired, worn out faces tell a story them selves. But they don't sell calendars. Maybe with a quilt in unusual backgrounds...

  Bruce and I went to see My Fair Lady at the opera house yesterday. It was well done. Eliza's voice was amazing. They had a barbershop with Ivan Hibbert that was fun. They had rented the black/white costumes and the ball gowns, they were perfect and made the show. Ken Wheeler was Eliza's father Alfie Doolittle and did a roaring good drunk. Bruce got to talk to Michael Frazier and catch up with him. His wife had breast cancer and is recovering from that. Man, we all have troubles. 

  Rosala gave me a fleece blanket for the back of the chevron baby quilt so when I get it tied we will take it to Erica. 

 Well this turned into an epistle. Bruce stood up for 3 min and 45 seconds this week. He has had terrible spasms and his leg has fallen off the bed every early morning this week. (Usually around 5 am) I do not like interrupted sleep. I tend to snap at people and look grumpy. How do people hide their lives on their faces? 

  We figure it is the therapy making the muscles kick in so that is a good thing.

  

He Almost Took a Step

   Bruce almost took a step yesterday. He had three helpers. He shifts his weight to his left foot and they had a slippery pad under his right foot and he was ready to slide forward and his leg with all his weight on it crumbled. His legs aren't strong enough to support all his weight. I am sure they will try again. 

  I got some chocolate fabric. It is a layer cake with different kinds of chocolate on the fabric. They suggest Christmas pkgs for the pattern and I will use turquoise fabric for the ribbons with flannel on the back. Can't wait to snuggle with it. 

  The rear view mirror came off the van. I got some glue to fix it. Duncan hasn't glued it yet. Now we will have to wait until it gets warm to try it again. The nice man at the auto parts store said several people had bought glue, he thinks it is the hot/cold weather making the mirrors fall off.

  Bruce has an ingrown toenail. We have been soaking it twice a day. He will see the dr tomorrow.

  

 I did order a new organizing book, (going to have to organize them) the Magic of Tidying Your Home by a Japanese lady. She says to roll your socks and they will be happy. So I went through Bruce's socks and rolled them, now we have happy socks... She says to Get rid of everything that doesn't bring you joy. She cleans by item, like all clothes, all books, etc. I will have fun reading the book.

   Meg is coming over today to prune the peach tree. Bruce would like the raspberries done if they know how too.

  I went to the nice dentist, no cavities 

   Bruce and Andrew were going to go to the high school bb game and Bruce couldn't get his debit card to work. They tried calling me and as usual I didn't have my cell phone with me. It turned out to be an exciting game. They want to go to the girls home game this week. They watched Glory Road instead, a bb movie.