I am Blessed

Dear friends!

Life is good.  Busy, but good.  Rob and I successfully moved my folks from Florida to Michigan.  Their belongings, that weren’t transportable by plane or car, will arrive on Friday.  While the transition for Rob and me and the boys has been easy, it has been more challenging for my folks, as I expected it would be.  There’s a lot to get used to – the different climate (cool temperatures and a lack of sunshine are hard to take when you’re used to so much sun), the noise of a busier household, the different routines, the clutter of a busy, still working family, ongoing construction and so many other things.   The house is a noisy disaster as the reno on the bathroom still isn’t done.  There is stuff everywhere, not to mention the constant dust on the furniture and the floors.  It’s very hard for mom to go up and down stairs so once the first floor bath is done, and the dust settles, their life should be greatly improved.   My dad is truly a saint.  Almost every night, and often during the day, my mom gets very disoriented and confused.   The house, the location and the people in it are a mystery to her and I can’t imagine the level of fear and angst she must have on an almost continual basis.  My dad very calmly tells her their story beginning with how they met, married and raised a family to include all the places we’ve lived and finally explains that she has a disease called Alzheimer’s and that he (and all of us) are here to help her remember, when she can’t.  He is the most gentle and loving person and she is extremely lucky to have him in her life.  She knows this, too.  When I am with her for any length of time, and my dad isn’t around, she talks about how wonderful he is.  She knows she is blessed to have him and I know that I’m blessed to have THEM.  I am truly honored that we (Rob and me) have the privilege of having them live with us.    I am further blessed that my Rob is much like my dad – loving, patient and kind.  Yep, even for all that is going on, life and God, are good.

Here’s my progress on the Joyful World SAL by Matya at Snowflower Diaries.  I have changed a lot of the blocks, as you can see.  For April, I changed the bunny to one of Matya’s free patterns that I’ve always loved but had never stitched.  Since she had a bunny for April, I thought it a perfect time to incorporate this cute couple into my SAL.  For May, my changes were a bit bolder.   I wouldn’t say I don’t like cats but I would say cats don’t like me.  They make my eyes all puffy and red and itchy and because of that I guess, I’ve always had an affection for dogs.  So you might think I would stitch Sophie and Gracie, but you’d be wrong.  No, I thought I’d like a polka dotted cow thrown in the mix to prim the whole thing up a bit.  After trying to design my own, and having failed miserably – trust me, it looked really, really bad, I decided to use the cow from the Maria Tilley chart.  I made a few bad alterations and now have something that looks like a cross between a weird looking cow and a not too attractive horse.  Let’s just call it primitive.  Yeah, that’s it.  It’s Primitive.

Our guild auction was a success and I was actually able to attend and bring my mom with me!  The only reason I could do that was because Julie and Sheila and Meghan and Christina ran the auction along with lots of other helpers.  Without them all, the auction would not have been a success. 

The scissor fob sale went pretty well and certainly made more than past bake sales have but I don’t know if it was the huge success I was hoping.  All the fobs brought in were really pretty though – here they are – I’m sorry for the poor pic quality on some of them:

There are Matya’s cute bunnies, again!

                                                                                            

The fob I made is on the top row, middle of the next picture.  There was a small bee stitched on the back, as well.   

 

Aren’t they all fabulous!? 

My mom had a good time at the auction and got the one item that she fell in love with – a quilt!  The perfect thing since she seems to be constantly chilly.  This is a picture of her (on the right) and the maker, Mary holding up the beautiful quilt.  It is folded in half in the pic so it’s a biggie and my mom absolutely adores it!   The auction was a very long day for my mom and she had fun but by the end of the day she was exhausted and pretty confused.  It was my fault – I kept her there a bit too long but I was so happy to share the day with her and to have her meet all the ladies I’ve grown to know and love so much.

 

Today is my Matt’s 25^th birthday.  He has become a successful young man and will be moving into a house, in a trendy little town, at the beginning of June and I am going to miss him terribly. Matt always has a smile on his face when he comes through the door and he is gracious and helpful and kind and I am going to miss having him around. 

 

That’s it for now.  Thank you for all your comments and notes.  I am so sorry if I missed responding to one of you – it has been very hectic ‘round here.  I hope you understand and will continue to visit and leave a note when you can.  I appreciate them so very much!

Be well.

Peace,

Terri