Oh- THAT'S WHY!

The end of May I was bitten on the inside of my knee. I woke up with a nasty red circle that was very painful and growing in size.

I had to stop by my vets office that day, so I asked his opinion- "So what kind of critter bit me ya think?" He looks at it and immediately says- a Lyme tick!

Well !&*)(#^%#%&^*!*

I went thru that last summer, lots of pain... 12 weeks of antibiotics... BUT I healed.

So my family doc calls in a powerful antibiotic- I go to the pharmacy on June 1st and pick it up. It says take 1 pill twice a day. Quantity of 12- no refill. I'm thinking, boy this IS powerful stuff... last year it was 12 weeks, this is JUST 12 pills. So I take ALL of the pills like I am suppose to.

Fast forward a few weeks. I think I have been beat up coz of all the work in the yards I have been doing. BUT the muscle cramps and joint pain are getting worse- even with rest.... when I have trouble bending my fingers and need Neo-Man to cut my food for me, walking is absolute torture, and the nightly charley horses in my legs and arms, I have had it- I call my doc and go in.

He casually says "well you still have a few weeks left on the antibiotics and it takes time".... I look at him and say- Doc, those 12 pills have been finished since June 5th.

He has that puzzled look on his face- "What 12 pills? I ordered 42 pills with refills!"

NOPE! Not what I got.... I only got 12. and that was nearly 6 weeks ago... too late.

I even went back to the pharmacy- and they got the call in as only 12 pills. GREAT!

So NOW I HAVE Lyme disease and I am NOW on the right dose of meds. Wonderful!!

So if you get a tick bite- my advise is RUN DON'T WALK to your doctor...

And I found out that NJ, PA & DE are Lyme tick central... more cases here than anywhere...

And I thought it was just my sister beating up on me!!

Whaddya know bout that!

Hopefully I can feel better soon coz I am leaving to go to the family reunion the end of the month... and I have sewing projects stacking up ^^^^ ...

Oh well, NOW I have pain pills - thank you very much! I am going to sleep and rest....

Later darlin'

I think I broke...

Pick a spot, a muscle, a joint... don't matter- I hurt ALL OVER.

I went over to see my sister Howdy for an overnight visit, only to stay an extra day to help her get HER plants planted. Seems she hurt herself and was unable to breath- much less bend over and plant. So I helped her move mulch and plant lots & lots of pretty flowers... in HARD as rock clay soil.... YUCKY soil!!! She still has a few more plants to get in so I will go over this week and help her.

I have been working in our garden- getting the back yard planted. It looks pretty good for the first year. We will add plants as the seasons progress. The main thing we need to do next is PAINT the scaredy hole doors. They stick out like a rusty old thumb....

I moved all my irises to the bed around the old birdbath and then planted

marigolds and such in the bed.

The blanket in the background is the dogs. They like to sun- and they

kinda took over that comforter last year so we leave it out for them.

I have been sewing some.

I had a birthday present to make- for a 50th birthday... I know she likes

purple and I saw this fabric and thought of her.

I had a graduation present to make , so I made her this really cute scrappy

backpack with a leather bottom... pics will come later- i was in a hurry to finish

and get to the party I didn't take any pics. But she has to bring it over for some

adjusting on the straps and then I can get pics.

She REALLY liked it and I was glad for that.

I had a quilt job to do and she was very pleased with the outcome, that's her

head in the pic when she saw it. It was a really cool pattern, I may have to

make one. I think it would really work with the oriental fabrics...

I have another grad quilt to work on and I am still working on the

3 sisters quilts.

Oh yeah, we had a quick storm move thru the other evening and here

is one pic of the sky over the house. It was mean and cool looking!

and do you see the profile face in this cloud pic?

Never a dull moment...

Y'all have a safe and Happy July 4th.

Later Darlin'

Not a leg to stand on

We have established that Neo-Man knows how to Kill a lawn- see Vanity.

Well he actually had to use the Round Up to kill the grass out back where he wanted to put in his flower bed. This will be the butterfly & hummingbird garden. But first get rid of the grass.

We had to move any and all plants that were in the little garden space before he started tilling it up.  Next he had to dig up the sprinkler pipes so he didn't cut them up with the tiller.

After he has the bed all worked, he has to put up poles and tape to keep the dogs off the dirt ( yea... that worked with nearly a weeks worth of rain! )

The important part of this story is about all of my irises. They were in that little garden-waiting... after they were dug up a last year out of the side bed. Most of them didn't bloom this year, just sent up the leaves and that was it. 

EXCEPT this one.... he didn't have a leg to stand on or a stalk but he bloomed AND OPENED at ground level!  I saw this yellow iris and thought one had blown in and was stuck in the leaves... till I tried to pick it up and realized it was attached... bloomed right out of the roots almost.

So I spent today planting ALL of my iris and hyacinth in the little flower bed that has the bird bath and that funny fire hydrant. Now next year they will all bloom happy & healthy in their own new bed.... I can't wait.

It's dark now- but in the morning I will get a pic of both of the flower beds from todays work. Neo-Man was finally able to get the stepping stones laid and the first of the plants in. He still has 3 yards of mulch to spread.... Oh our aching backs.......  

BUT the hummingbird showed up yesterday- during the rain!!! Wait till he sees all we are doing for him! Hopefully he will tell all his friends...

Later Darlin'

Happy Flag Day! And our President has extended the Flag Day to be for this next full week. So Americans can show their patriotism all week. I fly a flag EVERY day!

and Happy Birthday Ruger!! 

A lifetime of baseball-saved

My nephew played baseball since he was big enough to hold a bat.  He is just like his Daddy- very gifted and one of the youngest to play on the team. He is a very good catcher (runs in the family) and he pitches and plays the outfield. He played on summer teams that went to the Little League World Series twice. He played on his HS varsity team when he was a freshman. 

He eats, sleeps and dreams baseball. He loves it!  He is also a NY Yankees fan! 

So when his Daddy mentioned he would like someway to keep all of the uniforms and jerseys from the different teams- I knew the perfect way- A Quilt!

He opened it last saturday night at his party after his HS graduation. It was the last gift to be opened. He was so moved he wept. Everyone in the room did. He could not believe he would have all of his teams- to carry with him as he moves on with his life- to college, hopefully on to the major leagues.  It was a moving experience for me to make and it did it's magic on him- he loves it.

You can double click on the pic to see it enlarged.

This is the back of some of his shirts. I used them to create the backing fabric. 

These have the names of all the team players and all the teams in the LLWS tournaments. I figured it was something he would want to keep.

My first real "memory" quilt and what a success it was. 

Now I am working on my other nephews- he was the band player so his shirts are music related.  

And I am still working on the 3 sisters comfort quilts....

plus I have a quilt job waiting...

and I want to make some summer dresses for my MIL...

plus a garden and flower beds....

Oh yea, did I say I have been busy?

I love my life, I made a young man cry for joy!!!

And what a SMILE he had!!!   :)

How To Kill a Lawn & vanity

Isn't that flower bed pretty?!  

Neo-Man had just planted the flowers and re-did the mulch. 

Next step- fertilize the yard. OK..... Neo-man will borrow Mikey's drop spreader that is BIG and fancy and has BIG tires so as not to hurt the lawn. ya know- manly!  So off he goes to work. 

Then... Neo-man comes in and says "I think I just killed the lawn!"  I look at him puzzled and ask "how?"  He explains that he poured the fertilizer  into the hopper and took one pass around the tree when he looked down and noticed ALOT had dropped out.

See in his haste, he never checked the spreader settings before starting. It was left in the FULL OPEN position after it was cleaned and put away, the last time it was used and properly cared for.

Now the lawn has WAY TOO MUCH fertilizer on it!!!!

I tell him to go get the shop vac and suck up the excess before it damages the grass.

His eyes pop open and he gasps -and I quote " I  WILL  NOT  LET  THE  NEIGHBORS  SEE  ME  VACUUMING MY GRASS!  ARE  YOU  CRAZY?"

NOPE!!  I'm not crazy......

I'm the sane one who gets to listen to Neo-Man explain to the neighbors, mailman, UPS driver, and anyone else who asks what happened..... and nearly all say the same thing- you use a leaf vac, you should have vacuumed it up!

NOPE! I'm not crazy.....

I get stand by and take pic as Neo-Man tries to repair his pretty lawn.

But then what do I know!

Pushing Daisies HAS RETURNED to ABC- kinda

I just got a call telling me: Pushing Daisies was on last Sat May 30th.

I love this show and was very ticked when it was removed from the show line up.

It is only back to finish up the last 3 episodes they have... but I will be watching.

I finished the comfort quilt for Tammy in NC. She is recovering from surgery to remove her Breast Cancer. I made this to help her heal and ease her pain if she has to endure treatments.

Every woman loves hearts, especially if they are made of florals fabrics.

And since she is the person who is the breeder we got both of our dogs/babies from I stitched all of our names in one of the blocks. 

"Hello Darkness" - that is the name of this iris. It is absolutely stunning to see up close. It is a deep dark purple- almost black!!  I was so taken by it I had to buy it... Now it is in my temporary garden- we are building an iris bed and it will go in there- PROUDLY.

It has one open bloom when I got it, with 2 that had already closed and 2 more to open.

This is a yellow one that decided to bloom alongside it. I have one more yellow that bloomed at ground level. When I saw the flower open, I thought maybe a bloom off this one had blown off and was stuck in the other leaves. NOPE it opened at ground level. i will try and get a pic.

It is with a sad heart that I say "Farewell" to a dear sweet woman, Laura Rawlings.

She lost her 8 year battle with breast cancer on May 22nd and is finally at peace.

I will always carry her memory- of her spirit, determination and fight with me as a reminder of how precious  life is. She was a very talented & gifted quilter. 

But more importantly she was a Mother of a 10 yr old son and a Wife. 

Please keep them in your prayers.

Gotta run, I am busy trying to get the graduation baseball quilt completed and mailed THIS WEEK..... then I have the other one to make........

Happy June Y'all!!!!

The stuffing knocked out

Something got the stuffing knock out of it!
I know this because I have found the remnants of his stuffing ALL over my property.

There is a neighbor with kids and they leave their toys and such outside. Apparently one of the stuffed toys broke open, and the squirrels decided the stuffing would be good for their nest.

(the white stuffing is kinda hard to see so I circled it in red)

This is along the drive way. This was the first place I noticed it at. Neo-Man tought I had thrown away some quilt batting. But I had to correct him- this is white poly stuffing for dolls and such.


This is the tree beside the garage. It almost looked like snow in the yard for a while, it was ALL OVER.



These are large clumps hanging in the branches of the tree. If I lived in the south you might think it was moss- white moss!


This is a large clump that got stuck in the bark of the tree, and another in the fork of the branch.

Each of the circles has white poly batting stuck in the tree.
And lastly, Waaaaaaayyyyy up where the arrow is, is the point where the nest is.
It is a warm nest this year- it must have a pound of batting in it.


I'm glad we have happy comfy animals in our yard......

Later Darlin'