On the Eve....

When they do the radiation on my thyroid tomorrow I will not be allowed to do a number of things for 3 days. A brief run down of all my no no's!

1. Cooking for people other than myself.
2. Doing other people's laundry.
3. Sleeping in the same bed with DH
4. Doing any type of errands or shopping
5. Being around small children or pregnant women
6. No picking up Whiner or being too close to him which will be hard since he is my shadow!

and I must stay at least 3 feet away from people. Seven feet the first day! So I am planning my hibernation! I am stocking up on magazines and craft supplies so that when the time comes, I will just stay in the bedroom and enjoy my mini vacation - of sorts!

Even after the treatment (a pill), it will take about 4 months for the radiation to eat away the bad part of my thyroid completely. So I have been told I will continue to have days that aren't so good but they should gradually happen less and less. Unfortunately this isn't an overnight cure but I sure like it a lot better than the thought of surgery!

I told Harold and the boys that there was plenty of food they could cook for dinner while I am unable to cook for them but I know my guys. They will be ordering pizza or a quick run for hamburgers for a few nights!

Harold and I noticed that it is beginning to get dark earlier now. Even though we are still on DST the days are getting shorter. Last week this time, I was able to take Whiner out at 9 pm without turning on the outside lights. Now it is totally dark at 9 pm.

Yes, I am still scrapbooking! Just not sharing a lot right now since I am doing more family than nature layouts. And I have been doing more stitching lately than scrapping. It is very soothing and relaxing for me and that is just what I need right now!

What I did today: worked on my current cross stitch, finished up a CJ to send on, laundry, watched a tv show that was recorded last night and printed out more freebie charts! Can't get enough of those!

Survey Questions

Found these fun questions on a survey in a CS magazine so thought I would answer them here!

What type of fabric do you prefer to cross stitch on? Aida vs. Linen. I tried some linen the other night because I know that most swaps and round robins do require linen or evenweave now and NO aida! Call me old fashioned but I am probably one of the few who are more partial to aida cloth! At first I felt this may cause some problems but then I realized there was an easy solution! I will keep some linen on hand to use for swaps and such while I stitch the pieces that I plan to keep for myself on aida! Good plan!

Do you work on more than one cross stitch at a time? I usually don't like to have more than one project going on at a time. It's too distracting for me to handle. But I can handle one medium/large project and a small (ornament, ect) at the same time! No problem!

Have you ever used hand dyed fabrics to stitch on? Sort of. I have tea dyed my own cloth before stitching on it. Does that count?

How do you feel about embellishments on your stitching? I love the look of beads on cross stitch but I just never do it. Not practical enough for me. Of course I do love adding buttons to help liven up a piece!

Have you done variations when stitching? Oh, this is something I have always been notorious about doing! Changing colors or even the pattern it's self by not doing part of it so that I can finish up quicker! I'm impatient that way! And occasionally I like the main part of the chart but not all the extras. Sometimes less is more! I did a Home Sweet Home awhile back and I left out about 30% of the pattern on it but you would never know it cause it looks great!

How do you prefer to finish off your projects? In a frame or another way? I would have to say both ways. I am anxious to get my "wall of samplers" completed but I see so many boxes, fobs, bell pulls, needle rolls and more that I want to do as well! And now that I have a new sewing machine, I can do a lot of fun finishes! Too many projects, not enough time!

I was told that I needed to list the charts pictured in my previous post! LOL! I might get in trouble if I list them all but here is a brief run down --

1. Merry Sunshine by La D Da
2. Their Songs by Blackbird Designs
3. You are my sunshine by La D Da
4. Season of Rest by Little House Needleworks

What I did over the weekend: Stitched on my current WIP. Bought a couple of CS magazines, subscribed to Just Cross Stitch magazine, ordered the JCS Christmas Ornaments 10th Anniversary Collection, printed out some freebie charts from The Drawn Thread, picked up several new hoops in smaller sizes and some specialty threads.

On the Road Again

Went to see the endocrinologist for the third day in a row! Days 2 and 3 have been for the iodine scan. Next week I go for the radiation treatment. According to my doctor, hyperthyroidism is much harder to control than hypothyroidism. So the point of this procedure will be to make me hypo thyroid then it can be controlled with medication that I will remain on for the rest of my life. I was also curious about the fact that I was gaining weight instead of losing which is a symptom of hyperthyroidism. It seems that it is not very common for this to happen but it DOES happen. Your appetite will increase thus the weight gain. This is what is going on with me right now. It feels like I just can't eat enough! I have gained but not too much and it should come off fairly easily after this is over but for now I sure am loving all the good food and the way everything just seems to taste so wonderful! Just glad to be on the road to feeling like my old self again!

I am anxious about our eye exams next month! New glasses! Hopefully I will be able to cross stitch on something other than 14 ct. aida and the help of my Mag Eyes magnifier! The thought of using 28 or 36 count linen is exciting! But I'm not going to push my luck! I would be happy just to be able stitch on 18 count aida again!
We recently bought a new sewing machine. Definitely different from any other one I have ever used so I need to find the time to play around with it and learn to use all the bells and whistles it came with! Then I can do some awesome pillows and finishes!

Stopped by the craft store on the way home and picked up lots more DMC thread that was on sale! Nothing like a good sale especially when you are building your stash back up! Our mail man brought me lots of new goodies this week! Enough new charts to keep me busy for a long time!

Catching Up!

Ran across a great sale and candles, faux fruit, potpourri, wreaths plus lots more ended up coming home with me!

Cleaned out my closet which is a nice way of saying that I made room for more junk! I will be so glad when we have an extra room (after ds leaves) for storage space!

I was ready to start on my next cross stitch piece when another one caught my eye! I may be putting Mockingbird by La D Da aside for awhile while I stitch on Their Song by Blackbird Designs. I hate doing that but this piece is just screaming my name to work on!

I set up our appointments for eye exams in August! YEA! New glasses are in my future and I definitely need them!

I had the appointment with the endocrinologist about my thyroid. It was determined that it is time to remove the bad part of my thyroid. He gave me the options and let me make the choice. I chose Radioactive Iodine treatment instead of surgery. Much simpler and effective. I go back tomorrow and Friday to begin treatments that will determine how much radiation I will need then will get the final treatment next week.

After that I go back once a month for several months to let them observe my thyroid's stabilization and that will determine whether I need to take thyroid hormones the rest of my life or not.

In short, I should begin to feel ALOT better very soon!!!

Long Days

This weekend we decided to set a goal for ourselves to have the house finally finished up by! I told Harold that I wanted to finally see it how I wanted instead of just dreaming about it! I picked out the colors for the kitchen am so excited to get started again! We did a good bit last summer but came to halt and never got moving on it again! Now's the time! Hopefully I will have to lot to report within the next few months!

The first thing on our agenda is to finish painting. Then re-arrange furniture, get a few new pieces of furniture, a new rug for the living area, get rid of junky clutter (which will be a job for a family of pack rats) and hang all of the pictures, samplers and signs I have made or bought recently. I know it sounds like a lot but actually we have already done a lot of the big stuff and we have most of the paint sitting here just waiting to be used. Pictures are bought and just waiting to be put up. I hope to have a lot of pictures to share showing our progress!

I have spent alot of time working on re-vamping my blog lately. Notice the side bar! Lots of additions and changes! After thinking it over, I have decided to make MOCKINGBIRD by La D Da my next WIP. Yep - another La D Da chart! I am loving their stuff and have quite a few more waiting to get started on!

The new Technique Tuesday stamps, Tool Time and Rocket Man are on my list of TO GET items. I am also anxious to see the new Mustard Moon papers and Autumn Leaves stamps start rolling in from CHA!

I finally heard from my doctor's office and my appointment with the thyroid specialist is on Wednesday! Maybe I can get a few answers then and hopefully be on my way to some sort of treatment that will resolve most of these issues I have been dealing with lately!

Twiddling My Thumbs Wins!

I am still waiting to hear when my appointment is for the specialist! It sure is taking a long time to set it up! *Update* I spoke with the doctor's office and I should be hearing something very soon. They are just trying to find the best specialist for me! So I can either pass the time by cleaning or twiddling my thumbs! It's a coin toss!

It is time for CHA and new scrapbooking goodies! I am anxious to see what all will be coming out. I will have to fight the temptation to get everything that comes out and remember that I still have oodles of unused stash from CHA Winter!

During the past several weeks, I have done enough shopping for cross stitch supplies to keep me busy for quite a while! Patterns (over 20), fabrics, threads, needles, carrying bag and more! Getting my stash built back up will definitely NOT be cheap! LOL! But in the long run it will definitely be worth it!

Now that I have completed the piece I was working on (By Her Hand) I am ready to begin another but which one!! Maybe I will wait a few days and see which pattern strikes my fancy to start on! I realize that the present year is already half over but I hope to have a nice long list of finished pieces by the end of the year for my future "wall of samplers".

Two Times in a Day

Today hasn't been one of my better days so I have been taking it easy with some stitching, catching up on some of the blogs I read and reading new blogs recently discovered!

I have made up my WISH LIST of cross stitch patterns and reformatted my blog to accommodate my stitching also! There are only about 784 patterns I want to get AND complete! LOL! I'm sure a lot of them are older ones but they are all new to me since I haven't stitched in quite a while! Thus the LONG list! I am discovering new designers while enjoying new looks from familiar names! I am currently working on BY HER HAND by La D Da.

Out of curiosity, how do you know when your blog is almost full? Do you start a new one then or just delete older posts?

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Several years ago I was diagnosed with an over active thyroid. My family doctor sent me to see a specialist who kept telling me "it isn't bad enough to treat yet. Come back next month." It seems that since then, my condition has taken a nose dive and I am near what is called a Thyroid Storm which isn't very pretty from what I have been told! I am anxiously waiting for treatment to begin so that I can get back to feeling like my old self again! Oh, I am NOT going to see the same doctor that wouldn't treat my condition earlier! A new doctor for me and hopefully one that will actually do something this time!

In the meantime, I was asked if I had a hobby. Something I could give my attention to. Something to help keep my mind focused and calm. Well, yes I have a lot of hobbies but none of them really seemed to fall into the calming category. Then I remembered when I did cross stitch. That would definitely work but then I remembered why I stopped stitching.

I had to quit this hobby eventually when my eyes paid the price for all of the close up work involved. Over the years I have tried to stitch only to get a horrible headache each time. After all, you can't keep a true stitcher down! Then Harold and I went out hobby shopping. Cross stitching patterns called my name! Oh, but what about those horrible headaches? We found magnifier called Mag Eyes. Different and better than any I have tried before!

I have re-discovered my old love and have been stitching with the help of the Mag Eyes magnifier with NO headaches! I am one happy camper! And my new goal is to keep all the pieces I finish for our home and catch up on lost stitching!

Goals and Plans

No, I didn't miss the 4th of July! As a matter of fact we celebrated with some more day trips! Fun! As soon as I get the pictures downloaded, I'll be sharing some!

Now it is time to get myself back in gear and organized all over again! I picked up several weekly planners because I had found myself bound to the computer calendar which wasn't always convenient! Now I have a planner to use at home and one to carry in my purse. I also picked up a new address book to replace our current one of 20 years! Amazing how much the new one has changed. I also picked up several organizers at www.gooseberrypatch.com this weekend! I just LOVE the stuff here!

I decided it is time to tackle that "gonna do" list! You know what list I mean. I find myself saying "I'm gonna do (fill in the blank) one day" about various things but more often than not they never seem to get done! I have made my list and I am going to start on it NOW! Not so much because they have to get done but because they are things I want to do and I hate leaving them dangling! I don't think I will share my list right now or it might seem too overwhelming and I will end up quitting before I even begin once again! But I will definitely keep myself up to date as I complete each goal!