We had a busy day yesterday. Dear Husband went sailing, and I attended the christening of one of my grand nieces. I was supposed to attend a party following the christening, but I needed to visit with Elegante Mother. My-Sister-The-Nurse was going to make a stop to check on her, and I needed to learn how to use a new piece of equipment.
EM is unable to assist with her own transport from bed to chair, and chair to recliner, and so on, so we are now using a Hoyer to move her. A Hoyer is a lift. A sling is placed under EM’s body, and it’s hooked up to the arms of the Hoyer. A hand pump is activated to lift her into a sitting position, and then you swing her to the chair and lower her in place. It’s really an amazing piece of equipment, and Elegante Mother treats it as her own personal Riverview ride. We thought she might be distressed at being moved in this way, but she is absolutely calm about the entire thing. YEA for EM and for us!!!! One more problem overcome.
I stayed to visit with EM for a while, reading to her from the “Country” magazine and generally keeping her company. She is so frail, it’s difficult to see her like this, but she has an amazing will to stay with us. As I’ve said, she’s the Energizer Rabbit, and she will go on, and on and on!
I’d put a roast in the crockpot before I left for the christening, and Dear Husband had everything pulled together for dinner by the time I got home. It was good to put my feet up and relax and just enjoy his company.

I know, I know, I’m fixated on weeding. If you had as much weeding to do as I do, you would be too!
I can’t seem to remember to take before and after pictures to illustrate the work that I’m doing. I started weeding the day lily bed along the south side of the house. The weeds were so healthy that they had shaded the lilies and some of them have languished. I got about 75% of the bed weeded. I walked around the corner of the house and discovered that there is extensive work to be done on the west side of the house, too. As with the front gardens, I weeded up to the poison ivy and stopped for the day.
I had to prune out some mulberry upstarts, but everything else was just weeds. I cleared a path to the meters on the side of the house. I really don’t know how the meter readers have been getting in to do their work. I’m rather surprised that the companies haven’t called to tell me that I needed to provide access.
I asked Dear Husband to be my delivery man. I wanted some mulch for the gardens that have been weeded, to keep more seed from germinating, and to help hold moisture around the plants. He brought me two cubic yards! Just before he got home with it, he saw a sign offering mulch for the same price with FREE DELIVERY! I believe that he likes to grouse about having to help with the gardens. You should see how nice the herb garden looks with the chat we laid this spring!
If I could persuade the men of the house to help me, I’d clear a narrow bed on the west side of the house and plant hydrangeas and other blooming shrubs. It would cut down on the weeding, add to the beauty of the house and grounds, and create an easier path to mow. We really need to improve what my niece would call our “eyesore.”

My sister, Frankie, at Just My Opinion, has been too busy to post since Easter. She teaches kids who are getting their last chance at a public school education due to a variety of reasons. I can tell you that I would have loved a teacher like my sis. She brings out the best in you and makes it easy for you to participate in each class. Don’t get me wrong. She’s demanding, and expects a lot from the kids. She’s not a pushover. The kids are very lucky to have her. But….by this time of the year she is wrung out. She doesn’t have a smidgen left to give. She NEEDS the summer to regroup and relax and think of new ways to encourage kids to want to learn. I hope she’ll find the time to post this summer, so that you can find out why I think she’s so interesting.
We baby-sat for our two grand daughters tonight. Their parents wanted to be able to go to dinner to celebrate their anniversary, and we live in the town where the restaurant that catered their reception is located. Since it was so close, they wanted a chance to visit the place. They dropped off the girls and all their paraphernalia about 5:30 before they went on to the restaurant. The girls were just fine, but I want to know where a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 year old get so darned much energy! Dear Husband was wearing down about 8:30, and I was able to pick up the slack. He had covered for me when the girls had first arrived, when I was slow to find my niche. We only had the girls with us for four hours, but it sure looks like a tornado hit the living room. The oldest created games for us to play and drew on an over-sized pad of paper. The youngest one played with found things and a set of large plastic trucks,and vehicles that reside in our toy basket. I’m sure glad there were only two of them. I don’t think we could have coped if we had been out numbered! *G*
Elegante Mother is under the weather this weekend. I’m going to go visit with her tomorrow, to see if I can encourage her to eat. We think she has an upper respiratory infection. Se’s getting medication, cough syrup, oxygen and bed rest. I really hope this all works, and that she can get back to getting a good night’s rest. We’re just a bit on edge because My-Sister-The-Nurse is in New York, attending her grandson’s college graduation. She promised to keep her cell phone in hand, in case we needed to consult her on EM’s care. She should be fine but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
This morning I ran errands. I went to the Post Office, the dry cleaners, two hardware stores (couldn’t get string trimmer refills at the first), and a QUILT SHOP!!! I was looking for some bright, clear fabrics. I enjoyed a baby quilt I made in that kind of fabric that I’d like to work with them again. I used a Christmas gift card and just a bit more. The fabrics have already been washed and dried! I’ll press them and then they will become part of my stash. I’m making the announcement now: Do not expect anything of me on Monday. I’ll be sewing!
Happy weekend, and a good Memorial Day to you all!

It’s been an exciting week at Chez Buffy. My son-in-law went to the hospital for emergency surgery. He’d been ill for four days when our daughter insisted that he see the doc. He was sent on to the hospital on the suspicion that he either had a burst appendix, or it was going to burst imminently.
He arrived at the hospital in the early afternoon, and they kept him waiting from three o’clock until midnight, when they started the surgery. The doctor said that the appendix had burst earlier in the week. He was kept in the hospital three and a half days, and then was sent home to finish his recuperating there.
We visited with the kids (and grandkids) today, ten days after all this occurred, and other than being cautious around the girls as they played, SIL looked fine. He has recovered enough to have returned to work. His work is primarily telephone and computer oriented, but still…..he was back at work within a week of a perilous illness, and surgery. The man is made of steel!
We’re all hoping that he will be more careful about delaying a visit to the doc in the future.
I personally felt it was a week that warranted prayers of thanks for letting our son-in-law come through this safely!

I need to make plans. Actually, I need to give some thought as to how to share what I know about quilting with a beginning quilter, without scaring her off! *G*
Elegante Mother was a member of the Empty Nester group at her church. I got to know a number of the ladies when they came to our house for a monthly craft session. They made all sorts of things including lap robes, baby quilts, neck coolers for the troops, and gift bags for women in shelters. I discovered that they have a new member who is interested in quilting, and I e-mailed her. We plan to spend a day together in my quilting studio. She makes quilts for troops returning from the Middle East. I just discovered that she is a beginning quilter, so I’m trying to decide what pattern I can show her to expand her experience, without being too difficult.
Dear Husband and I will be visiting a quilt show this afternoon, so perhaps I will get some ideas there, and I can check to see if there are any books on the subject.
Mary plans to come for the day, and we’ll have soup for lunch. We can set up both sewing machines and still have room for a cutting mat. We can put completed blocks on the design wall, so that we have an idea how things are shaping up. I may try to put together some blocks ahead of time that could be mixed into what we make on our quilting day.
I’m really looking forward to making a new friend, and spending a day sewing.

Oh, my! Spring is arriving early to northeast Illinois. We’ve had a week of off-and-on rain. The snow has melted away, grass is greening up, and crocus are in bloom. Each day I visit the gardens that lead to the front door to see what’s newly sprouted. The daffodil leaves are at least six inches tall. The Darwin hybrid tulip leaves are all up. There are scads of iris coming up, sharp little points of green pushing their way up out of the dirt. The lavender is greening up, and I can see leaves on the phlox, foxglove and centaura montana.
I’ve seen the first chipmunk, but not the first robin. My sister said she saw one, so they will be here shortly. I figure the rain has flooded the chipmunk den and floated him up and out, along with the worms. The robins can’t be too far behind, since the worms are such easy pickins.
Dear Husband is getting his ears lowered this afternoon. He said if I accompanied him, he’d treat for lunch. I asked if he would go with me to a quilt show after lunch, and he agreed. It turns out the show is just half a mile from Elegante Mother, so we’ll make a stop there.
Tomorrow, I hope to get some more work done in the basement, and work on my ironing. I let that stack grow until it begins to irritate me, and then spend an afternoon cutting it back. It’s always more fun when there is new fabric to iron, but I’ve been trying to resist buying more fabric until I use up some of my stash. I think there may be about twenty quilts waiting to be designed from the stash, perhaps more. I hope the quilt show will provide inspiration!
I hope you all have a great weekend. Stay dry!

We slept in today. I woke around 7:00 and got up to feed Edward Scissorhands. I dressed and headed for the kitchen, fed the cat, emptied the dishwasher, made toast and heated up some tea. I puttered around with little things, waiting for Dear Husband to start his day.
After DH had something to eat, we BOTH headed to the basement. He chose to start shredding documents from prior to 2000 for the company, and I started the mammoth undertaking of repackaging fall and Christmas decorations. This chore is difficult because we store not only our own decorations, but all of Elegante Mother’s decorations from years past. At some point, I will invite my sisters to visit and we will go through these boxes to determine what can be thrown out, and what should be kept for Elegante Mother. I think her collections of owls and angels are stored downstairs, plus all her craft materials (batting, fabric, ribbons, buttons, patterns, junk….)
The reorganizing is going well, but I wish I had a longer table. I’ve found ways to cope with the lack of space for now, but I can see purchasing some plywood for the future, so that we will have a larger workspace.
This is actually the start of my spring cleaning. In order to clean on the first floor, I need to remove all of the decorations and take seasonal things to the basement. I couldn’t in good conscience take things to the basement without cleaning things there, first. AND, I’m not likely to invite ALL my sisters to go through EM’s things with the basement looking as it does right now.
My goal is to get things stored on the shelves at the wall, and then try to get the floor washed. It’s a big job, but one I’ll be very happy to see finished.
I want you all to know that I have removed the ornaments from the Christmas tree. It will shine it’s lights one more night, and tomorrow the guys will take it to the basement. That’s another good reason to get things cleaned up. I need to make a spot for the tree.
I hope you’re all feeling as energetic as I am. Happy Saturday!

We have a busy week coming up, and then it looks like things might calm down for a week or so. Both Dear Husband and I have finally made appointments with our optometrist. I’ve been battling an eye infection which is most likely due to close proximity to our cat, Ed, and I didn’t want to visit the eye doctor with less than clear vision. And to be truthful, I was lazy about getting around to making the appointment. Had I made the appointment late last fall, I’d have to go back for help with this eye infection anyway, so things have a way of working out.
Thursday, I was the queen of errands. I managed to visit the bank, the post office, get gas for the car, stop at the cleaners, visit with my optometrist for a prescription, pick up the backing for a baby quilt I need to finish, shop for the baby shower, and then stop at the drug store to drop off the prescription, and still get home for an afternoon in the studio! I love days when you are able to sail through a backlog of things with little or no difficulty.
Our optometrist is wonderful. I walked in cold, presented my problem to the receptionists, and they encouraged me to wait to see the doc, who would be available in just a few minutes. Perhaps two minutes later he said goodbye to a patient, and took a moment to talk with me. Rather than airing the situation to the world at large, he invited me to his office, where I could explain what had been going on. My question was, did he need to have the infection cleared up before my appointment next week, and/or did he wish to prescribe eyedrops to clear the infection. He prescribed, and then explained to me it was most likely the very close contact with the cat that was doing me in. No charge…..see you next week! WOW….how long has it been since you’ve had assistance like that from a professional?
Ed, our cat, is approximately 20. He has kidney disease, and at the moment he’s having another flare up. We know his time is limited, and I am loathe to send him on his way, so I will need to make some adjustments. After years of being standoffish, he now wants to glue himself to my body periodically, and he’s taken to settling on my chest at night. It’s rather odd….but I suppose he enjoys the heat, and being stoked and scritched…and he may like the feel of my heart beat. Unfortunately, I’ll have to keep him on my lap from now on to prevent the inflammation in my eyes.
Let’s see…back to next week. We have a baby shower for the little one who will be the first great great granddaughter in our family. She’s due emminently, and the shower is tomorrow. And a week from Sunday, I have promised to attend the Empty Nester luncheon at church in Elegante Mother’s stead. We have been writing to two of the youth group as secret pen pals and Sunday we are to meet our pen pals.
The week is set up alternating exercise sessions with appointments, the shower and the pen pals, so on paper it looks pretty busy. Actually, it’s just one activity a day. I might even find the time to redecorate the Christmas tree! *G*
I hope you all have a great week, and just enough stuff to do that you can get around to it all!

It’s Valentine’s Day. I suppose I should take down the Christmas tree…..

It’s Valentine’s Day. Dear Husband has given me the most beautiful bouquet of long stemmed roses. When we were first dating, he called his favorite florist to order roses for me, to be sent to our shop, “Three Sisters Needlecraft.” I was floored by the gift. It was the first bouquet of roses that I had ever received, and I was in my mid thirties at the time. Everyone who came into the shop walked over and dropped their heads to inhale the scent, and I’m sure the whole town (it was a small town) was talking about the beautiful roses.
When Dear Husband came to visit, he saw the roses, prominently displayed, and he looked like a thunder cloud. I didn’t have the faintest idea what had irritated him, and was really concerned. He had ordered a rainbow of colored roses, but the local florist had just dark red roses, so that’s how they had filled the order. DH drove to his favorite florist, told them what had gone wrong, and picked up another dozen roses in a rainbow of color, and returned to our shop. Now, I had TWO DOZEN ROSES!!! Be still my beating heart. It still gives me goosebumps to think about it.

If you thought the town was talking over the first dozen roses, you should have heard the buzz when he brought the second dozen! *G*
I’ve always felt pampered by Dear Husband, in every way, but I love it when he buys me flowers. The bouquet for this Valentine’s Day is that same rainbow of color, and they’ve really brightened our winter days, and reminded me that our love has lasted 25 years.
Thank you, sweetheart!