My Last Night

What a night it's been! So many calls from well wishers and family and friends. I guess the word is out, huh? LOL I feel like Sally Fields when she accepted her Oscar, "You like me, You really like me!!!" Lol Even gas control called and the guys there wished me well. sigh...

I talked with a dear friend today and she told me I have to have a schedule burning party. For all of you that may have a copy of my shift schedule, burn it, shred it, throw it away. I'll now be like everyone else... You'll NEVER know where I am or what I'm doing. A NORMAL life! lol

I've cleaned out my locker. Thank goodness, I hoed it out 6 months ago, or I'd be forever getting it done. I've sent an email to my fellow coworkers, wishing them well too. Gosh, how will they ever get along without me? :-) I suspect quite well. Again, for the 10th time I told my boss I was leaving, but no goodbye, no thank you, no go crap in your hat. Such is the company of today.

This weekend is Allie's birthday. She'll be 3. I need to get a couple more gifts for her. I've already gotten an apron for her to wear while she cooks, some children's cookbooks, and I want to get a little bag for travel and put some finger nail polish and such in it for her to take to Rochester once radiation starts. She's getting stronger and better every day, more like her old self. Hollie got the call that it starts October 5th. We will get her thru this.

My mind is swirling with the possiblities for the rest of my life. Someone that called tonight told me I'd probably be bored within a month. I just laughed and told him he doesn't know me very well. I've NEVER been bored, and with my quilting, painting, flower beds, family, house, camp....... well, I just don't see it.

I wish you all health and laughter. When you've got your health, you've got it all, and laughter dear friends will get you thru anything... till next time

Fall Wind like in the Scary Movies!!!

Yesterday, I was trying to sleep, and the wind was blowing and howling around the house so much it kept waking me up. It was like in the old time scary movies we used to watch when we were kids! Lol Halloween movies! Booooo! I didn't sleep very well but finally gave up and got a few things done around the house.

Wayne down to his Mom's helping get her house all neatened up. Sheila is home and they're getting outside work done, while the carpet layer is putting new inside. Sounds like a good place for me to stay away from. :-)

Another night almost done. It's cold and damp outside but atleast it's stopped blowing up here.

Not much to add. Keep warm everyone. And watch out for hobgoblins! :-0

Whew! back to work for 3 more nights...

I worked my BUTT off this weekend! If that is what retirement is all about, maybe I should rethink this! LOL Saturday we went down to the camp to try and get some more flooring down. Well, we ended up with lots of company after our late arrival. My brother John and his wife came to visit, my son and his family came to visit too. By the time everyone left, we were starving! Lol We headed over to the local tavern/restaurant and ate. Got back and our neighbors invited us over to visit. Sooooo we didn't get any work done that day. BUTTTT Sunday we gave her hell! Lol We worked hard and got all the wall boards off the big room, all the rug up off that floor, and by then I started into what we've been using as a bed room. I tore down wall, ripped up carpeting, and killed ants! LOTS of ants. Those big black carpenter ants had made a nice comfy home in the wall between the two bedrooms. Well, they're not there anymore. lol By the time Wayne and I got to where we needed to stop, he had flooring down all around the big room in front of the fireplace, and in what was the front bedroom. We needed to finish up burning debris, and pack the truck to head home. A shower sure felt good let me tell ya! I hope you take a moment to go to my webshots albums and view the latest on "starting on the interior". You'll appreciate all my hard work!

This morning I had to get up at 4:45am to get ready and meet my Mom to take her to the hospital for her stress test. She passed it with flying colors. And yes, that means she will be back on for the hernia surgery. None too soon as far as I'm concerned. She told me she's been walking the floor nights in pain. I pray she makes it till they can get her scheduled. I worked on my "waiting room quilt" while she was having her test. Where would I be lately without all that???

The weather has sure taken a turn for the worse... cold, blustery, and rainy. Our leaves are being blown off the trees before they've had a chance to turn colors. :-( I'm really looking forward to not having to drive to work in bad weather! Yippee

Take care, remember to laugh, and enjoy the blessings we all have in our lives... me

Let the Countdown Begin!!!

Well, I'm back to work on nightshift. And the schedule shows that I've only got 4 more night shifts, and two more day shifts to go! Yipee!!! Lol The paperwork came in the mail for me today so I'll have to give my advisor a call about having taxes withheld and all that good stuff. I'm ready. And I'm incredibly relieved to have made this decision. Lol I'll have the entire month of October off using up vacation, personal time, and a holiday. What a way to ease into retirement on the first of November! lol

I purchased Elly S.'s dvd on beginning applique. I enjoyed watching it. Not sure I like her applique stitch, although she does the first part exactly like my teacher Sharon Stroud taught. But unlike Sharon, Elly brings her needle out into the front of the applique piece, thereby not being invisible. Sharon brings the needle out into the knife edge of the applique fold, making the stitch very invisible. Elly teaches a lot of other things that I enjoyed and I highly recommend this dvd for a beginner.

I've posted some new photos to my webshots albums. Some of my "Waiting Room" blocks are done and in there. :-) I've really gotten a lot of this quilt done a lot faster than I expected. Soooooo, I bought a new book and am planning my next hand applique project. It's "Baltimore's Country Cousins" by Susan McKelvey. I fell in love with this. It's like a Baltimore album quilt, but not quite as formal... more my style! :-) I also ordered a fat quarter of each fabric in a collection from Connecting Threads. I might even have a background to use already! lol I sure hope I live long enough to finish all my projects! :-)

OOOOH, my Mom didn't have her surgery last week. It seems the preoperative testing showed she's had a heart attack in the recent past... She was soooo relieved to not have to have the surgery that she raced off to play Bingo at the Sr. Citizen's center, not even giving any thought to the possibility of a heart attack!!! Only my MOM! She has to go have a "chemical" stress test on the 28th of this month. I suppose it will be the difinitive test as to "did she or didn't she" and how bad is it!? sigh...

Wayne worked down at the cabin last weekend. He ripped up the awful orange rug in the big room, fixed another spot in the floor that had a register in it that we knew nothing about, then started sheeting it with plywood. His thoughts are once we start ripping down the ceiling, all the "STUFF" up there that will fall down, will be easier to sweep up on the plywood. I think he may be right. Once we get the floor done, and ceiling up with insulation, then I can look into getting the gas log installed in the fireplace. HEAT!!! Lol I'm so excited about the idea of just going down there and staying and puttering at our own pace.

Allie is having a difficult time getting off the steroids. Each time they get her almost weaned off, she spikes a fever and they have to put her back on it. Dr.s told them it's a syndrome and it could be another month before her body adapts to not having them. I hope it does. She was supposed to start radiation on October 5th, but they told them it could be earlier.

Took Hollie out for a "big girl's" night. We had dinner and a drink, window shopped, and saw the movie, "Julie and Julia." We both enjoyed it a lot. Very good, lighthearted comedy. I highly recommend it.

Take care and I hope your days are filled with laughter and sunshine. It's been beautiful fall weather here, BUT Wayne and I both noticed the song birds have gone. The humming birds are gone... guess they knew it was time to get out of Dodge!!! lol Cold weather will be coming before we know it.

Hugs, sylvia

Some time off... I think. :-)

I finish up in a few hours and then have 4 days off. But they'll certainly be busy. Wayne and I hope to pick some elderberries on Monday. Tuesday I take the Jeep to get service done, Wednesday is Mom's day and it will be an early one. She has to be at the hospital at 6:30am. That means I'll have to get her about 5am. Yawwwwnnn, I shudder just to think how long a day it will be. Thursday, I'll probably be taking her home from spending the evening at my house if all goes well. Somewhere in there the NY state relocation man wants to talk to me and my MIL. Then Friday it will be back to work that evening. OMG, when do I retire!? lol

I can't forget to call back down to West Virginia and get my retirement papers sent to me.

I also hope to find the time to prep another block for my waiting room quilt. Lol Can't sit there with nothing to do. :-)

Today is my middle grandchild's birthday. He's 8. I will leave work at 5:30 and head up to his house to give him his present. Can't let him think I forgot! I'm sure he'll love it since the older grandson helped me come up with something. It's a Ninetendo DS game. I always said I wouldn't get those kids things like that, but they do love it so.

Went to our Station's picknick last night. It was fun seeing the retirees and their wives. We haven't done that in a long time, and our Company does NOTHING in the way of celebratory things for their employees. I guess we should just be glad we have a job and get paid. One of the guys that retired had a good long talk with me about how his life has changed since he retired January. His wife and he are so happy. Even Wayne seems excited about it. Lol

Take care all, and if you don't hear from me, not to worry, I'll be back available friday night. Perhaps I'll have some photos to share... Enjoy the moment, we never know what it will bring.

On my way...

Hello all, or anybody! lol I think I only have one person who follows me! lol I wonder if that's a good thing.

It's been an interesting time off. DH had his knee surgery. He hasn't had ONE BIT of pain since the surgery. Not one!!! Not even from the surgery!!! Says when he goes in for his follow up visit to the surgeon, he plans on kissing him! His knee feels so better. The last two nights we've been walking down the dirt road to our house for our exercise. I have to hold him back!!! lol This morning I asked him what he was planning on doing today while I was at work and he hoped to ride his bicycle some. Hope he doesn't over do it. AND, I hope he gets that half bushel of corn cooked and froze. lol And we're thinking of taking a bucket to pick elderberries too! Jam, wine... hmmm anything! There's lots out there this year.

Well, made it back to the financial advisor. This time I took DH with me to understand the retirement package I wanted to select. He'll be making those choices in the future himself. Course, him being slightly younger and LOVING his job, means I'll have some alone time at the house before he retires. lol She gave me very good sound advise, and I'm going to take it. Today is my first day back to work and I searched out how much vacation, personal, and holiday time I have to take before retirement and if I've done my calculations correctly, I'll be taking the entire month of October off, and retiring November 1st. Yup, that means the rest of this month will be IT for me!!! lol OMG that sounds so wonderful and scary at the same time. I told the advisor how scared I was and she told me she hears that all the time. That she wants to talk to me a month or two after I retire and find out how scared I am. lol I need to call back down to HR and have them send my new package papers up and that will be about it! Sign them, get them back, and work till September 30th. ahhhhh

On to Allie, my DS called me with wonderful news last night, Allie's spinal tap results came back... the cancer did not, repeat did NOT get into her central nervous system. It brought tears to my eyes to hear him tell me that.

My Mom went for her pre operative tests on Tuesday. She's scared and nervous. I tried to reassure her that she had made the right decision to have the hernia fixed. She looked at me and said she knew she did... that she's been having pains lately. Yup! I'm glad she is going in to get it fixed.

Well, I got a 3rd block done on my Waiting Room quilt. lol I've got to get some photos posted. Perhaps this weekend. AND, I'm almost done with the 4th block. I'm addicted to hand applique I tell ya!!! Who'da thunk it? lol Stopped into a LQS on the day I had my Mom, and picked up some more Civil War repros in green. I've about used up all the varieties of greens I have. Not used them up, just used them once I should say. I'll need to have another block all ready to go by next Wednesday when Mom's surgery is. sigh... But Quirky is right, I've been filling each and every block with love and prayers for the people in my family as I've been doing them. It will be a very personal and special quilt when I'm done.

The weather here has been glorious!! I love fall. Leaves are turning rapidly, the air has a smell to it like at no other time, and the birds are flocking up to get ready to leave. We're putting humming bird food in the feeder every day!!! Pretty soon though, I'll walk outside and realize it's quiet... no birdsong. They'll have all left me alone till spring of next year. That's when I'll know it's time to put away the deck furniture, bird feeders, flower pots, etc. I'll start pushing Wayne to get working on the interior of the camp so we can get heat in there. lol

I wish everyone could come spend time with me down there, watch Pine Creek go by, and swing on the back swing while enjoying laughter of friends, or quiet and comfort of loved ones... Till then, take care, sylvia

Another Day, another dollar. :-)

Back at work and boy my heart just isn't into it anymore. lol Perhaps it's been fading for a while now. Only working 3 nights this week because DH is going in for knee surgery. Fixing his torn moniscus. It's only been paining him for two years, what's the hurry??? lol I've prepared another hand applique block to work on while waiting during the surgery. This is the second block I'll have worked on while waiting thru one... and I suspect by the 16th, when I take my Mom for her hernia surgery, I'll be working on a third block!!! Geepers, I could have an entire quilt done if this keeps up! lol Thank goodness for my good health. I try to walk and keep busy.

When I went for my walk today I couldn't help but notice the fall smell in the air. It was 44 deg. F this morning when I left for home at 5:30am. I had already put the flannel sheets on the bed Sunday, and threw a quilt over top also. Was really chilled working all night. I snuggled into bed and slept for 5 and a half hours. That's it... sigh. Wish I could sleep better but can't. So hard to sleep well when the sun is shining outside. The leaves are just starting to show color. Fall is my favorite time of year. Perhaps that's why I'm partial to rich, bold, fall colors in my quilts.

It's coming up on birthday times. DGS, DGD, Mom, Aunt, Son, Me... Lots of birthday cards to look for in the next few months. And, in a week or so our school will be starting here in NYS. Grandkids seem to be ready to go back. Pennsylvania has already started. Hearing some talk occasionally of considering year around schooling. It seems they have so much to teach them in so short a time. Makes me sad for the idea of no summer vacations for our kids. Perhaps they'll change their minds...

That's it for tonight. Just the rambling musings of a tired shift worker... who wishes she was home in the recliner, covered over with a wholecloth quilt I've been quilting on... :-)

Take care, look forward to what the next day will bring: inspiration, peace, laughter...