Wonderful Wednesday!

I am feeling so much better today. I finally got some much needed sleep last night. Thank you all for your well wishes and support. I have come to know some of you very well and ya'll mean a lot to me and it felt good to vent and get that off my chest.

Did you know that you shouldn't take pain pills at night?? It turns out that's one of the reasons I haven't been sleeping! Who knew?? I thought pain pills were to take the pain away and let you get some rest. Nope....the doc said that I shouldn't take a pain pill past 5 in the evening. He told me to take my xanax at night to help me sleep. You know what? I slept like the dead (pardon the horrible pun) lastnight. I did not want to get up this morning to come to work. I need more sleep but I do feel much better today....at least a little rested and at ease that I don't have renal cell carcinoma.

I talked to my daughter last night via skype. She is a nursing student and I read to her the report the doc gave me. (She knows those big words that I can't even pronounce) She had asked me about the liver deal. According to what I read her, it turns out that I do have cysts on my liver but she said that like any other cyst they could be benign or malignant and that bears further testing that should be done soon and not swept under the rug.  (I brought her up right....she tells me like it is).  Apparently the doc didn't think they were a big deal. She is not a big advocate of my doc. She thinks I need to look for another doctor. I tend to agree with her, except I've been seeing this one since I moved to GA 11 years ago and he knows me, my medical history, and I have a good relationship with him - I can talk to him and say what I need to, I feel comfortable with him.  So I'm kind of torn.

My daughter is evil too. She looked at me, smiled and said 'You know....once you have your gall bladder out you can't eat ice cream for dinner anymore.'  I gave her that stink-eye look, the shocked 'NO WAY Jose' look.  I told her I would do all the necessary research on it to see what I could and couldn't eat.  She also said I can't eat nuts anymore. I LOVE nuts!  I definitely need to investigate.

So on to my hooky stuff.  I have not finished Glor's CAL.  That is on my agenda. I screwed up somewhere and Glor thinks it's 3 rows back.  I hate frogging........especially since the stitches are dtr's. My hands and fingers screamed at me a few times while hooking it so that I had to put it down. I may fudge the 10th row and make it so that I add in the 8 ch3 spaces that I'm missing so that I can finish it, but I bet that'll bite me in the butt. :o(  I did notice in Pammy Sue's that I can't see her rnd join. Mine looks different. Have I been doing joins wrong my whole crochet life I wonder??? :o(

I'm currently working on a bunny that you can stuff grocery bags in. (I spoke briefly about this yesterday) I don't know where I found the pattern but it was from a Crochet World  article some years ago. I remember seeing that on the bottom of the page. My daughter put in a request for a bag holder when I was home for Christmas and I remembered I had this one in my myriad of printed patterns that I found online. 

She also requested some towels that you hang on the oven that are crocheted in the shape of a dress and the straps of the dress go over the handle and button on the front of the dress. I haven't seen anything like this. Is that a pinafore? If you know where I can find a pattern like that please let me know. I'd love to make her a few for her stove.

I have used all of my #3 tangerine and tan thread that I was using to make my daughter's tablecloth, so that is on hold until I can order some more from Herrschner's. I just missed a free shipping offer. :o( Too much other crap going on to notice. Other than these and the hexies I showed you yesterday that's all that's going on with me hooky-wise.

On another note - this last weekend was the cookie drive for the Bomber Girls to send to the soldiers for Valentines Day.  Over 3700 DOZEN (that's at least 44,400) cookies were donated to send to the troops. A little town in Westville IN donated 2 and a half pallets (over 12,000) of cookies that were all baked and sent for this drive to Savannah. They lost one of their own a year ago and a friend of the Bomber Girls who lives in Valpraiso frequents several VFW's in Westville and surrounding areas. She was instrumental in getting people to bake and then send these 2.5 pallets of baked cookies to the Bomber Girls last week. At this time there are approximately 80 soldiers on the shipping list (some addresses were given the day of the poker run) that will receive bunches of good ol' USA home baked cookies to remind them that we love them and that they are being thought of.   They will get at least 2 boxes each, if not more, to share with their fellow troops. If you have a soldier that you would like them to receive some love from the Bomber Girls you can go to the site and give the address and dates of deployment. They will be added in on the ship to list. The response from the communities surrounding Savannah and as far away as Westville IN was outstanding and awesome.

Above is the teal washcloth I finished. Isn't it pretty?

I hope your hump day is wonderful! For those of you in the midst of the storm or about to get it....stay warm as best you can. Hope you don't have to venture out in it!
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

I Think You Have A Kidney Tumor

These horrific words were said to me by my doctor last week, Wednesday to be exact.

At first I was like, ok....what do we need to do?  A CT scan was the first order of business. Got that set up for last Friday morning. I leave the doctor office headed back to work and I call my older sister, asking her if we have a history of kidney cancer in our family. Come to find out my nephew, her son, had had it two years prior and had a part of his kidney removed because they caught it in stage 1. She says to me, 'don't be upset, everything will be ok'. I'm like 'well...it's a little bit late for that'.  Now I'm upset.

So I get back to work, sitting at my computer and my old boss comes in and I'm in tears. She asks me what's wrong. I tell her. She asks me why he didn't give me an antibiotic to see if it's a urinary tract infection. I'm like 'you're asking me??' Apparently he had some kind of indication to give him the conclusion that he came to.  So I call the office and talk to his nurse and she says that I've had blood in my urine since November and it's been the same constant. If it was a UTI then it would be getting worse.

I have been giving my blood and urine regular like in the last 3 weeks. I actually went in November to him for a wellness check up (isn't that how it all starts??) and he did a urinalysis then and that's when blood showed up in my urine. So I've had the blood in the urine since then and he neglected to tell me this. I have to hear it from his nurse.

Ok, so Friday comes along and I go for the CT scan. This one is without contrast, which is the dye that goes in your body for everything to show up better in the scan. So I get done, go in the waiting room for them to look at it and then let me go. I wait, and wait, and wait. 10 minutes rocks on by, they take a few more people and I'm like hey...can I go now?? No, he's looking at it now. Ok. So then another 4 or 5 minutes goes by and one of the girls comes back to get me and says we need to do another one with contrast, he thinks he saw something in your liver. MY LIVER!!!???

Ok, now I really am upset. Have you ever had the contrast?? Holy cow....when it hits your veins and both sides of your neck gets hot and then it hits your groin area and that gets hot.....it's unreal. I didn't like it.

I had filled out some paperwork and one of the questions was 'did I have my gall bladder removed?' I didn't check it, I still have my gall bladder. She comes in and asks 'did you have your gall bladder out?'  I tell her no. WTH is going on here????

I get done and they tell me I can go, just like that. The doc will get in touch with me either the end of day today or Monday at the latest.

So of course.......no call Friday. I am very upset. Now I have to go through the whole weekend wondering how long I have to live. Right?? I am one to always think the worst. Been that way my whole life. And it has it's benefit when you get word that it's really not as bad as you thought. But it can turn on you too and be spot on, ya know? 

I'm already in pain from my lower back so any pain(s) that I have are freaking me out more. And I  have more pain, though half of them I wonder if they are a figment of my imagination. I hardly slept all weekend. By Monday morning I am almost a zombie because of no sleep and worry. I didn't tell very many people because I don't know what the verdict is going to be. Yea, I thought of it that way......if I did have kidney cancer - renal cell carcinoma as it's known as - and I had stage 3 or 4, the chances of survival are not very good for those stages. Believe me, I was scouring my computer Friday night until my eyes were so gritty that I couldn't see anymore and went and laid my head down only to lay there most of the night.

So yea, Monday morning rolls around and I can't wait. I call the doctor's office and leave a message. By noon I don't hear anything so I make an appt. for 7:45 this morning. Yea.......now I have to pay a co-pay to find out my test results. Sux to be me huh??? Well one of the girls from his office called me just after I left work and he wants to fax me something and talk to me on the phone.  I told her that I had already left work and that I had made an appt to come see him in the morning. She says ok.

I am always an early bird. I was there a half hour before appt time. I, of course, take my crochet, my fingers were working furiously. I finally get back in a room but they had called 3 other guys with me. Well don't you know they were all ahead of me. So I had to sit in that room. I got a lot done on the piece I was working on while waiting. (A bag bunny for my daughter - pics to come later)

FINALLY he comes in. After all this - I have two kidney stones and a gall stone and my gall bladder is moderately sludged. Meaning it's not flowing freely. So I'm going to have to deal with having my gall bladder out at some point in the near future but it's not a dire emergency at the moment.

I have to tell you that I am so relieved but I'm rather po'd at him because of all the drama surrounding this.  His initial announcement of 'I'm going to come right out and say it, I think you have a kidney tumor' should have been tabled to something way less damaging to me and my imagination.........ok??  But in his defense he did say that it could be kidney stones that have been there for years. But I was like 'well I've never had a problem with them before and none of my family has either'.  

I truly thought life was getting ready to be real short for me. The thoughts in my head since last Wednesday have run the gammet. It made me look at things differently. But that's why I've been quiet.

I hope none of you ever has to endure what I have in less than a week. It was not fun. Thankfully I am not as bad off as I imagined myself to be. I'll be around for a little while longer - Good Lord Willing and The Creek Don't Rise!! :o) I can smile now.

Ok on a quick short crochet note - I started some more hexes of persimmon and light peach. I finished the two skeins I had and had to get more. I can't wait til this blanky is done. Not sure where it's home will end up being but it should be pretty when done. Ya think?

I hope your day is filled with love and light.
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Rising Sun Doily CAL

Happy Thursday ya'll!!  I just realized that I hadn't posted since Monday! I have been so busy, I just haven't had a chance.

I have been doing the CAL (albeit very slow) with Gloria at CrochetGalore (listed on my sidebar on the right).  If you go to her blog, look at her sidebar on the right and it's listed there, you can go look at the finished product.  This is the first CAL (crochet a long) that I've done.

I wanted to show you and Gloria pics of what I've done so far. I can't wait until it's done. I think the top rays of the sun will more than likely be pink to compliment the purple. 

Of course the pics colors aren't true to color. I hate when that happens!!  But whatcha think?? Pretty  huh?

I just finished row 10, and I think I screwed up somewhere. I don't have the required 78 ch3 spaces. I am lacking 8. So you know what that means right?? I gotta frog it!!! UGH.......dang it all.  I am conferring with Ms. Gloria so all will be right again soon. :o) I am determined to finish this one for a friend of mine who's birthday is next month. Her favorite colors are purple and pink so I think she'll like it. I'm excited!

Ok......I need to try to catch up on some blogs. I tried to read my fave's in between this week but didn't catch all of them up.  I don't know if I'll be able to blog tomorrow or not. Tomorrow is a very busy day for me.  More to come on that too......(gotcha wondering huh? )

May all the love you deserve, want and need come to you in hundred fold. Life is short.......very short.
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Butterfly Splendor

Happy Monday ya'll!  Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes. You don't know how much they mean to me.  I spent my birthday running errands and spending money. I was in Lowe's at one point and checking out stuff I'd love to have on my wish list. In truth I was there for a dang toilet seat. That's another post in itself! 

When I got home I spent the rest of the day sitting on the couch next to Mr. Lick Lick crocheting. And this little thing just rolled off my hook.  It's one of those hexies (in white of course) that I'm making Jen's tablecloth with, and a 2D butterfly pattern that I found online but can't remember who's it is. I thought I might put together a little something for one of my friends, whose birthday is this next Monday, the 31st.  Seemed like a good idea at the time!

I have a heck of a time joining. Why is it so hard for me? It looks really easy too. I probably could have done a better job joining but it's all done now...I'm not frogging it. I guess I should be happy it's all laying down - with the exception of the last two white rounds. They are going to be frogged. I did 19 singles at the tops of the butterflies and 15 in between. I should have done 20 and 20 I'm thinking. That's what I'm going to try when I get home tonight. I think if I had done that to begin with it would have been ok.  But I measured and the width of the top of the butterflies is more than the width between the butterflies and I guestimated on how many sc it would take for each. And I was wrong. :o(   Can anyone tell me the math for this?

And I'm not sure what I'll do after that but I'm sure it will come to me when I get there. Not a whole lot more. I wanted to add the white border to offset the white center but not take away from the butterflies. And of course I have all those ends to weave in. And I'm weird in that I don't mind doing that part. I've found that if I get a smaller hook that it's easier to weave them in. Wish me luck huh? I need it! :o)

Happy Monday!  May your Monday be your happiest ever and leave you with a smile on your face and love in your heart!
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Another Wash Cloth

My teal #3 that took a bath in coffee?  It's strange that when you are crocheting with it you really can't tell where it got splashed with coffee, but on the roll it's very noticeable. Oh well. :o)

This is the same stitch as the other one (brown one in previous post) only it's crocheted in the back loop. I had done one for my son-in-law stitched like this and he loved it. The stitch definition was more tell tale on his because I used antique white and red and it stood out more. But I like this one too.  I think my next one will be the same stitches but in the front loop. That ought to be interesting huh?

I went to the doc yesterday.  I have blood in my urine. Nice huh? He asked was I spotting? I laughed at him..........um no doc...I haven't had a period since I was 24 years old. I forgave him that though.......he'd been on call at the hospital the night before and it wasn't a good night for him. He's doing more blood work as I told him about my last results of bloodwork with my tsh and vitamin d bottoming out. I go back in a week for this blood test.  He also gave me some Lunesta to sleep, which let me sleep a little bit more, I still woke up a bunch of times though. And he gave me some Maxalt for the whopper headaches. That's actually for migraines and he'd prescribed it to me before. This is some good stuff.

I also went to the back doc today. In a week or so I get the pleasure of getting an epidural. I have to find someone to pick me up from home, take me to get it done, then drive me home. I'm looking forward to being pain free (we'll see how long it lasts) but not the procedure itself. I guess I'll need to juice up my Zen. I forgot to ask how long of a procedure it is. I guess I'll ask when they call me to set it up.

Anyways....I'm off from work tomorrow. It's my birthday. I'm really bummed about it though because this is the first birthday without my dad and I'll really miss his call. The faucet has been turned on for 2 days already just thinking of it. Can't help it. And it's supposed to be rainy and cold tomorrow......lovely. It'll match my mood. I guess I and Mr. Lick Lick will be piled up on the couch under some blankeys - me crocheting and him snoozin away. At least he'll be a happy camper to have his momma home an extra day.

I hope your Friday and weekend will be all you dreamed it could and should be!
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Post of the Clean Kind

Not that the post would be dirty or anything but I just wanted to show you a wash cloth I finished last night. I absolutely love it. And I think I am going to be doing many more only in a lot of different stitch patterns and colors. It looks like a lot of people on my Christmas list may be getting a wash cloth. Do you think they'll be offended?

Gee I hope not. I'm going to see if I can learn to do some letters in Irish Crochet and somehow sew the first initial of the person receiving it so that it's personalized. That will definitely be a challenge for me.

Anyways, I have The Harmony Guides Basic Crochet Stitches - 250 Stitches to Crochet and will use quite a few of the stitches in there and create some awesome wash cloths in some awesome colors for gifts.

I actually thought this stitch combination was in this book but I looked through it twice and couldn't find it. It's really simple. The starting chain was an even number (42).  When I turned for the next round I did a ch 1, sk 1, sc in next st, then hdc in the same stitch, *sk 1, sc then hdc in same stitch* - in each row. 

I love how it turned out. And it was only two nights to finish it. Quick, easy, instant crochetification. What more could a girl ask for?? :o)

Hope your Tuesday is wonderful where ever your journeys take you.
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

*I Lied!!*

I guess I have to blame this one on the 'SomeTimers'. Sometimes I remember and sometimes I don't. It's hell getting old isn't it? I hate it. I never thought I would see myself here, and really never thought about growing old. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

I had to take a couple of pics for work to send to a co-worker in India. My camera has been dead since I wanted to take a pic of the iced trees at the beginning of the week. So I juice up the battery and put it in the camera and take the pics. I go to download them on my puter and there are a few that I did take while in FL that I totally forgot about. Nothing too exciting....my fur son, of course, at my daughter's house. And the other one is how you make coffee when the coffee pot goes on Christmas night when nothing is open to go buy another one! 

Where there is a will there is a way!!! Always!  Thanks to my smart son-in-law I was able to have my coffee that night and the next morning.  :o)

I don't have a whole lot to say except that I think I'm coming down with the crud. I've had a bad headache the last few days and just generally not feeling good. I've not slept real good either this week. My head right now feels like a football. So I think I will make this short and sweet.  Here's to a great weekend of the warming up kind to all of us! (At least that's my wish for us) May you be warm and bright in a world filled with cold and dark.
TTFN
Kat
xoxox