Reports of My Death Are Exaggerated!

           Wow! What a slacker I am. It’s been ages since I’ve posted anything here. In my defence, I think it’s been close to two months since I set foot in my studio. My life has been sadly bereft of the longarm, fabric, sewing, quilting, and hand-work. I haven’t even fired up the computer to design anything on EQ7. Pathetic.

That’s not to say I have been slacking off. Okay, mostly I haven’t been slacking. We all need some R&R, me included. My attentions have been focused elsewhere. I’ve focused most of my attention of my writing career and my health which is the subject of this rant post.

During the middle of last week, I had cause to visit the local emergency room. TWICE! Now if our medical system worked like it should, one visit should have been sufficient to solve my dilemma. Instead it took two trips and I still have no diagnosis.

The saga begins ... Recently, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, and that is the root of all my problems. The arthritis caused issues with my knee joint and it was all downhill from there. Knee swelling turned into calf cramps which became swollen foot and the inability to stand or walk. Since I’m on a new regime of drugs, I contacted my rheumatologist who said, “Go to emerg and get checked out for blood clots, what you are experiencing is NOT a drug reaction.” So, off I trot. (Okay, my man drives me and I use a wheelchair.)

I got lucky, emergency wasn’t busy and I saw the doctor quickly. In a nutshell, he had no idea what was going on and recommended an ultrasound to ensure that there were no clots. Here’s where the medical system gets a big fat FAIL!

Please tell me why, at eight o’clock at night, in a major hospital emergency room I can’t get an ultrasound?  The department was closed and all the staff gone home. The alternative would have been an MRI, which I am already on the waiting list for. But, those folks were gone home too. So here we have a woman in need of tests, and the machinery stands idle. I have to go home, get the ultrasound the next day at a remote site and go back to emergency with the results. While it does not appear to be a blood clot, they have no idea what is causing the pain.

 Skipping to the point of this rant, tell me why with an MRI waiting list that is months, if not years, long the equipment stands idle for much of the day?

I don’t know about the rest of the folks in line, but I would gladly show up at 2am for my test, just to get the damned thing done and my problems fixed. Can’t they staff the thing 24 hours a day? Nurses work shift work, why not MRI techs? Is this a union issue? Does the equipment need a long cool-down time after running a day? Perhaps the machine needs a nap? Is it a political way to control the dispensation of health care? I’ll tell you what it is! It is complete and total insanity!

Hire the staff and man the damned equipment 24/7 until the backlog is gone!

 As it stands for me, they still have no idea what is wrong. The leg is improving, but not with any great speed. So I wait for spontaneous recovery and an MRI. On the plus side having a chronic, debilitating disease has turned out to be a great weight loss program! The new meds have killed my appetite and I’m dropping weight like a stone. J Go me!

Hugs
Cath

Side Note: "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated," is a Mark Twain quote from when a newspaper mistakenly printed his obitauary.

What do Vodak, Kids and Chocolate have in common?

Okay, okay. I know. Monday is supposed to be the worst day of the week. And for a lot of us, it often is. But for some strange reason I woke up this morning feeling very grateful. Weird, I admit!

I started pondering this strange phenomenon and a list began to grow in my mind. So here it is in no particular order ... the things in my life that I am grateful for.

1. My darling husband.
2. My lovely sweet daughters. (AKA the Spawn)
3. A bushel full of friends, male and female.
4. Cupboards full of fabric.
5. My lovely longarm machine.
6. Chocolate.
7. Beer and vodak.
8. Books, books and more books. (Yup, I'm a reader.)
9. My cats. Sir Winston Churchill and Miss Trixie.
10. My soon to arrive grand-baby. (September can't come soon enough for me.)

Does my  new grand-baby look like me?

Caution: Nut Job Behind the Wheel

Okay, I admit it. I may not be the best driver on the planet. It’s true!

I have a serious tendency to be aggressive. I drive an ancient Honda that gets great gas mileage. The trouble is that I drive a wee-bit faster than I should sometimes. I have received a couple of Fast-Driving Awards in my day and have been in the occasional accident. In high school, I backed into some old battle-axe’s car in a parking lot. (I blame her; she wasn’t there when I shoulder checked and started backing up.) Once, a dozen years ago, I managed to center punch my suburban on a light standard in a Safeway parking lot. On the plus side, I didn’t hit the kid I saw darting through the parking lot. Although my innate honesty forces me to tell you that she wasn’t nearly as close as I thought she was. (I see a theme here, maybe I should avoid parking lots!)

So yeah, I am not a perfect driver, although I am scrupulously careful in playground and school zones. I don’t text while I drive, and I have a Bluetooth thingy for my cell phone.

I do have a couple of driving pet peeves. Learn how to merge people. Speed up to match the flow of traffic you are joining, and the rest of you make a gap! And can we please, please, please watch the lights and get moving when it turns green. Oh, and those speed signs, can we make an attempt to get to posted speed in less than five minutes and can we travel the posted speed. I’m not asking you to exceed the speed limit, just get there!

Okay, enough venting, on to the positive part of a road trip, the music.

My previous post was on the shameful tunes on my Ipod. Today’s post kind of ties into that. I love music. Yup, it’s true. I get in the car and turn the radio from talk-radio to music. (Why does my man listen to that?) I have five classic rock and one country station pre-set on the radio. (And two classic rock for another city that I visit often.) I start pushing buttons until something moves me and I start singing along. (The car is too old to have a CD player.)

I back out of the driveway, and I’m off. Recently, I noticed that I get a lot of funny looks while I am driving and singing away. I’ll be stopped at a light, sun glasses on, reading glasses on top of my head, Bluetooth in, and caterwauling away to the music. Teenagers look at me like I’m some kind of a nut job. Small kids smile and wave. Women glare at me. Old people ignore me and men smile.

I thought it was just a coincidence, but I started paying closer attention to the reactions of the folks around me while I sing and drive. Rarely do I get an unexpected reaction. Although, one lady looked at me, and said to her friend, “Oh my God, look at her.” (Lip reading. LOL) Now, that just made my day.

Now I admit I’ve seen people rocking-out while they drive and it makes me smile. I love pulling up alongside someone when you can tell they are shouting the lyrics at the top of their voices. It just makes me laugh. The teenagers really crack me up, because as soon as they notice that you are looking, they stop singing. Too funny! Me, I don’t care what you think of my singing, or how silly I look. I’m just having fun.

So keep your eye out for me when you’re touring around. I’ll be the brunette with the wild-out-of-control hair, tortoise shell sunglasses, reading glasses and Bluetooth, singing away at the top of her voice and driving her wee Honda like a cross between a tank and a Porsche.

The Embarrassing Music on My Music Player

 

I love my music. I have music playing for much of the day. Cooking needs the radio; Classic Rock of course, or maybe some Newfie music. Sewing, crafting, writing and working out require the use of a portable music player; often hooked up to speakers. Before you go getting all excited, know that I don’t listen to anything even remotely new. I have to admit, that I am not much of a music aficionado. My music dates me. (Good thing too, cause nobody else will. Ha ha.) I am hooked on classic rock up to the nineties and country music up to about 2005.

My first MP3 player was loaded when I got it in about 2002, I never did change the music on it. Not even once. I had it until about two months ago. I think it died of boredom from hearing the same 113 songs over and over. *grin* Even now, when I hear certain songs, I am disappointed when I don’t get the song that I am expecting next. Werewolf in London should always be followed by Cracklin Rosie. That’s just how it should be … in my corner of the universe.

 

So I now have an iPod. I loaded a few songs on it the day I got it. My iPod; a cute little pink one, is loaded with most of the same stuff that was on my original MP3. Sure, there are a few more songs, and certainly room for lots more music; but I am have never gotten around to loading more songs. Do you know how much effort it takes to go through a directory of 10,000-ish classic rock songs to find the ones that move you? Plus, we all know that I am, by my very nature, lazy. Lazy. Lazy.

I have to admit, that there are a couple songs that don’t really move me anymore or that are just plain crappy remake versions, but I have yet to remove them. The danged thing needs a delete button! I also have to confess (it’s a good thing that confession is good for the soul, cause I seem to confess a lot of things here.) Where was I? Oh yeah, confessing that there is a lot of music on my little pink player that is an embarrassment. You know . . . the kind of music that makes you shut the speakers down when someone comes into the room.

Jack Wagner: All I Need

Stompin Tom Connors: All of his songs! (Gotta love him!)
Captain and Tennille: Love Will Keep us Together

In terms of better music, you’ll find The Who, The Beatles, Alan Jackson, ELO, Prism, April Wine, The Irish Rovers, Alabama, Burton Cummings, Green Day and many more like that. Soon, I will be adding more classic rock some really old country music (think Dolly Parton) and a whole whack of Newfie Music. Oh, and let us never forget the world’s all-time best album, Bat out of Hell by Meatloaf! Paradise by the Dashboard Light is my favourite song…okay it is tied with Beer for my Horses by Toby Keith; but let’s not quibble. I would add some classical, because I love it too, but in general it’s hard to hear over my machines when I am working.

My favorite song for romance writing is I Love the Way You Love Me, by John Michael Montgomery. And nothing makes me cry like Dance Little Jean by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. When I need pumped up, it’s Mary Mac by Great Big Sea. There is no way you can keep your feet still during this song. For a laugh there is always Drink and Drink and Fight by Flogging Molly.

I do have one problem with the cute little iPod … when it is on shuffle, why does it play the same songs over and over? After three months, I heard The Night Chicago Died for the first time since I loaded it and I’ve heard Boris the Spider ninety seven times. I mean really, Why?

My Life Is Sweet

Okay, I will admit that I have been lax on my blog posts lately.
Heck, I've been lax on quilting, pattern writing, sewing, binding, writing ....
I've done almost nothing but read and drink coffee for the past couple of weeks. Stupid self-inflicted injuries will do that do you. LOL Watch those stairs, they can trip you up. Not down, I never fall down the stairs, just up!

But, I'm back in the studio now and hard at work. Currently, my focus is on finishing my daughter and son-in-law's wedding quilt. Now that they have been married 2.5 years, I decided it is time. I have all the blocks done, half the sashing on and now I am ready to sew all that into rows. I will post pictures when I get the top completed.

Trixie (left) and Winston (right).

Look at my babies. Aren't they sweet. They are resting on Darling Dogs and Cat's Got the Measles and are BESIDE (not on) customer quilts. Yes they are spoiled. They love visiting the studio.

Hugs and happy sewing to you!
Cath