A New Gadget!

Have you heard about Instant Pot??  A few blogs I follow had talked about using it....and the successes they were having!  I hummed and hawed and then weakened and purchased mine from Amazon....that was several months ago and I had never used it!  It's a pressure cooker (and slow cooker) and it kind of freaked me out!  LOL  On my birthday, when Sue and Deb were here visiting, we chatted about it and I decided that was it....I was going to use it the next day (it was not inexpensive!)!  Well, first I made a whole chicken....I took this pic while the chicken was cooking....for 25 minutes! A whole chicken was done in 25 minutes...and it was good!  I needed some work on seasoning though.  Next up was a beef roast.  30 minutes......(I think or 35) and done!  And tender!  So last night I made "spaghetti"  I read on the FB group about it and a lot of people said they replaced spaghetti noodles for other noodles.  I happened to have shell noodles.....so frozen meatballs, uncooked pasta, spaghetti sauce, water, spices and 6 minutes of cooking (after it pressured up) and bam!  Supper.....we also had garlic bread.  Daughter2 and I had some leftovers for supper....baked with cheese on top....yummo!  A very handy gadget for sure!

(love Bread and Butter pickles!  haha)

I've even spent some time in my sewing room.  This super simple wallhanging was stitched...it just needed quilting so I completed that yesterday.  Now to hand stitch the binding which I hope to start tonight.

The surgeons office called and I have an appointment for a consultation on October 4th.  I am hoping surgery is shortly thereafter.  This uninvited "breast guest" has over stayed it's welcome!  Time for it to vacate the premises!!  :o)

Our little granddaughter started crawling today so we will have to watch out!!!!!!!!  I will have to do some baby proofing and safety gates will have to go up on the stairs.  Fun times!!!  :oP  

Soon it will be Thanksgiving weekend.  All the kids, grandkids and even my dad will be here.  I can't wait!  I love this time of year.....I wish it would last longer.........

Yep I'm a lover of all things pumpkin......Daughter2 grabbed these for me today....even pumpkin agave!  I admit to being a lover of Starbucks' pumpkin spice lattes too!  

Another bad pic of my fall mantle.  I really do love fall.  <3  Not a fan of the white stuff so it can hold off indefinitely!

It's My Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!  In years past I found this day to be a bit depressing....no one made a big deal out of it!  LOL  Selfish thinking, I know.  But not this year.....my attitude has changed and for a good reason.  I have breast cancer.  Thankfully, the Dr's believe it has been caught early...the 'spot' is tiny and for that I am grateful.  Now I wait for a call from the surgeon's office to get this baby out!  I believe I have a guardian angel who is looking out for me.  Here's why:

We moved here in 2012.  I had never found a family Dr and had never had a mammogram (I turned 53 today!).  They scared me...the thought of these puppies being squeezed in a vice grip...YIKES!  Well, this June, if you remember, I had a nasty cold with an even nastier cough.  That cough was so bad I believe I dislocated or bruised some ribs.  It didn't want to go away and I was tired....tired of coughing and tired of not sleeping!  So, on the urging of friends and my Hubby, I called a Doctor.  Down here, IF you can find a Dr that takes new patients you first have to book a meet and greet.  Well, I was "dying" on July 5th and couldn't get to see my new Dr for a meet and greet until August 3rd!  I'd be long gone by then (tee hee) so I hauled myself into emergency...the cold eventually went away, the ribs slowly but eventually healed and on August 3rd I went to meet my new Dr.  She is a young gal, newly practicing and she put me through the ringer...and for that I am thankful.  Besides the usually "old lady" tests for colon cancer, cholesterol, diabetes and pap test I was sent for a mammogram.  You know what?  The squeeze wasn't that bad (as I wrote in a previous post).  I was called back for an ultrasound and then a biopsy.  On Friday, September 16th, I got my results.  So my guardian angel made sure I was sick enough to seek out a Dr (because honestly, I likely wouldn't have) and kept me on track by going to my appointments.

Apparently this little spot, which was found by the radiologist with the highest breast cancer detection rate in all of Alberta (thanks guardian angel!!) appears not to have spread anywhere.....but it will if left alone.  So I am anxious to get it out.  The surgeon will likely perform a lumpectomy and will confirm whether or not it has spread and I am unsure of what else I will have to do but I WILL do it all!  Whatever is asked of me!

The moral of my story is that I hope other women are not scared to have a mammogram as early detection is so important and we all have a life to live.....for me I have children and grandchildren to be here for and quite possibly a dream to fulfil (although if we sold here and found an acreage I might be content to just be in the quiet country air with Hubby, our dogs and my own stitching....I just read two of Susan Branch's books and I loved her story of being in a little cottage....you likely have no idea what I am talking about!  LOL!).  As my BFF Kim said, this will be a blip in my life.  For me it was a wake up call to learn about how important it is to take care of myself as I have never been a run-to-the-dr kind of person.

So I will not sit and sulk this year.  I have to go to work with little munchkins this afternoon who are happy to see me, want me to play with them and they make me smile!  Daughter 2 said she will cook me supper and I will likely have a visit from my pal Sue.  Maybe I'll get some sewing or stitching in today.  Life is great...it truly is!

It's Listed...Now What?

Again I apologize for being MIA. A LOT has been going on in our lives.  First this happened:

In order to even think about "the dream" we have to downsize.  :o)  We have only had one showing and that was this past Sunday.....our realtor is on vacation and another company showed it and we have had no feedback....but no offer either so they must not have been interested.  We are in no rush and have it listed until the end of November and then we will pull it off the market.  I thought it was going to be easy with mainly me and the dogs home.  We officially listed on a Monday and on Tuesday Daughter2 and our granddaughter moved back home....oh and her shedding-like-crazy-dog Gordon!  So its been a bit stressful but I am trying not to drive myself insane!  :oP

We had visitors again the long weekend and these two are so completely different in looks!  Lyla now has 4 teeth!  Jude is getting some too.  Fair and dark....LOVE them both so much!!!!!!

   

The seasons are really changing here.  Leaves are turning, it's getting so much cooler.  In fact we had quite the frost this morning on the grass.  I don't work on Mondays so decided it was time to pull out some fall decor yesterday...but not too much because of the house being listed...I mainly just did the mantle.

Here's the bench at our front door:

One of the mums I bought at Home Depot:

There is snow on the mountains now and I doubt it will be going away.  Soon it will be the busy weekend of hot air balloon races, historic house tours and the car show.  I can't wait!  LOVE LOVE LOVE watching the balloons fly over the house in the morning.  This all happens in a couple of weeks from now!!

Hopefully in the next post I can show you something creative I've made!  Not that I have been working on anything!  The new Quilt Sampler magazine had an adorable table runner pattern in it that would be great for our big dining room table.....lots of little log cabin blocks though so who knows if it will happen for this year.  

Off to work this afternoon......sun is shining, sky is blue......perfect!

Visitors and the Big Squeeze

We had some adorable visitors last weekend.  These three came to see Grandma and Grandpa....grand-dog Leela, grandson Jude and DIL Jenna!  Son1 was going to be away for the weekend so Jenna thought it was a great time to get out of the house and did I mind if they came down here??  Ummmmm NO, don't mind at all!!!!!!!!

Jude was one month old on the 8th!  How can that month go so quickly????????  Here he is on the quilt I made him.  :)  Jenna said he was posing!

I finally had my "meet and greet" appointment with my new Dr.  She seems very nice, young enough to be my daughter and she said I could call her by her first name!  Hmmmm wonder how easy that will be??  Didn't you earn the title of Doctor?  She ran me through the mill, sending me for blood work, stool sample (too much information??  HAHAHA) and had me call for a mammogram appointment.  I was feeling pretty great with being all responsible and having these tests done and booked my appointment for today.....and as the morning went on I got myself a little worked up about it.  But, I kept taking deep breaths, calmed myself down and put on the big girl panties!  It really wasn't that bad!  Now the tech reminded me that often, after the radiologist reads the X-rays, a woman gets a request to return for further tests.  She said it was no reason to panic.......most times things turn out fine.....so all the way home I was wondering if a) it was something she was required to say to all new patients or b) she saw "something"??  More deep breaths..........here I am sporting my fancy gown,  complete with ties in the front, while waiting to be called in.  

I will see my Dr again the week after next for the other lovely female test and go over the results of the tests I have already had.  I pray I come out of it with a clean bill of health because I need to be healthy for those grand babies and I have a dream to catch!  ;)  

Favorite Toys!

When Grandma is babysitting and needs to do stuff in her sewing room and realized she forgot to bring up toys......these spools were entertaining!!  HAHAHA!!

A Dream..........

I have always had a dream to open a quilt shop.  I have had this dream for many, many years.  I know I would be good at it...it's my passion...but I have had a business before.....and it was a struggle.  That experience will always be in the back of my mind unfortunately.  The difference is that the former business was not my passion.  It was a flower shop and my Mom and I made ALOT of mistakes when we bought the business....right off the hop....which we struggled to fix the whole time we owned it.  I have learned a lot from that experience, which is different because of the perishable product we dealt with.  But shouldn't I be preparing for retirement?  (hahaha  like that will ever happen!)  Shouldn't we be getting rid of debt instead of accumulating more??  I will explain where this is all coming from.

Hubby and I went for a drive on Monday to a tiny little town about 15 minutes away from here.  It is known for its antique shops and is bustling in the summer months with tourists.  The main highway goes right through this little town.  Anyway, we found a little shop, right on the highway, beside the biggest antique shop, that was for sale.  It is currently a coffee shop and is tiny but all we could see was a quaint quilt shop!  Even Hubby said it.  WOW!  Was he messing with my mind??  Maybe, but I've been dreaming of it ever since.  I was chatting with my friend last night via text message....she runs a very successful giftware shop in my hometown.  She is telling me to go for it!  Well, there are problems with "going for it" for me.....lol.  First and foremost finances!  I would need some!  I don't have a clue how much I would need to stock the place after the initial expense of buying the building.  How do I calculate that?  How do I do a business plan?  WHO would lend ME money??  Then it dawned on me last night that our biggest debt is our house...this big beautiful house with an amazing view on the best street in town...and in the best neighbourhood with the best neighbours!  But my friend/neighbour has been trying to sell her house for over a year yet one further down the street sold quickly....would ours sell if we decided to move and downsize so I could realize my dream?????***SIGH***

If only we had been better with the money we had inherited over the years.  If only I was younger!  If only I could predict the future and could see how successful it would be (or not).  If only I could win the lotto!  If only I knew..........IF ONLY>>>>>

In my heart I know this is something I would LOVE.  In my heart I know that dealing with quilters, fondling fabric, stitching samples and teaching classes would be fulfilling a dream.  But my brain is telling me to live safely.  Don't take the risk!  My brain is asking "ARE YOU NUTS?"  Even IF this happened....IF....this building is only 850 sq ft.  If things went well then would it become too small too fast?  Then what?  Starting small is always a good safe thing...right?  Oh my mind is spinning!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I hear is "life's too short" and I have seen that firsthand.  I could die tomorrow (guess I wouldn't have to worry about all this then!  hahaha).  I know how much hard work and how many hours I would be involved in this.....I have that time now.  ARGH!!!!!  Where is the back yard money tree??  Where is my courage??

Thanks for listening to my ramble.  Sometimes I find it helps to write things down......this hasn't really helped!  LOL   You can bet this will be the topic of discussion this weekend when Hubby gets home.  :o)

July...Slow Down!!!!!!

This month is flying by and it has to stop.....sloooooow down!!!!  I have so many things to get done before back to school!!!!!

If I felt better more things would get done.  I had finally had it at the beginning of this month and went into the emergency department.  Two and a half hours later I was told I had a summer cold/virus that could take up to six weeks to get over!  My temperature was good, blood pressure was good, my lungs sounded clear......I was hinting that I hadn't slept in three weeks and was told research has found that honey is the most effective for coughs.....ummmm  I want something that will knock me out!  LOL  Oh well, I have survived.  

My nighttime cough is gone and I do have a cough here and there during the day....the morning is a clearing session....day time more dry.  But my rib cage is KILLING me!  I'm sure I bruised things when I was coughing badly.......it's hard to move, cough, sneeze, have hiccups.....I just want to feel 100%!!!!!  I have zero energy........I have an appointment on August 3rd to meet with a new Dr.  I sure hope I am feeling better by then!!!!!

Before he arrived, I had made Jude another quilt.....I wasn't happy with the mess I made quilting his other one so I made this....a Charlie Brown quilt!  LOL  Chevrons always make me think about Charlie Brown and his shirt.  Anyway, because I wasn't getting it quilted I decided to put the binding on the other one and wash it....it seemed to help make the puckers less noticeable and Jenna loved it!  I will finish this one and he can have two although this one is a lot bigger....could be a roll on the floor quilt!

I also finished this UFO.  All it needed were the three borders......these colours are not true in this picture.....they are reproduction prints...civil war?.  I love it!  

Hubby and I headed north last week.  It was a quick trip for his work and even though I did get to see some friends and family there were many I didn't get a chance to see.  I think one day I may have to fly up (the drive is so long!!!) and stay for a bit longer so I can see everyone!  

We arrived on Sunday night and I had asked my Dad if we could have a wiener roast the next night for supper so we did......nothing like a hot dog cooked over an open fire!!!!  Yummmmmm

That Monday I really needed a peaceful, quiet day all to myself.  Dad had meetings and Hubby was working so the dogs and I spent the day outside enjoying the quiet.  Our dogs loved being able to roam free and explore!  I forgot what it's like to be attacked by mosquitos though and had to make sure I was covered in bug spray!

I did manage to visit with Kim, Pam, Erica and do some shopping.  I saw Joanie and Diane at the flower shop/fabric store too.  It was a great few days!!!!

On the way to and from we stopped in to see this little guy and his parents!  Oh he is growing already and is such a sweetheart!!!!!!  Loved the snuggles!!!!

Friday was this little girls 1/2 year birthday!!!  LOL  Six months old already!!!!!!  WOWZERS!!!!  We got to spend most of the day with her yesterday and she cracks me up!  To think Jude will be this age at Christmas!  FUN!!!!!!!!

If you have made it to the end of this long post, I thank you!  I have to make more time to post short posts as things happen!  LOL  Our house is a mess after being away and having Daughter1 here housesitting with her dog.....so I will get it in order after Hubby goes back to work....laundry day today and I will have to do some grocery shopping!  I stopped into the quilt shop in Blackfalds on the way home and picked up some fun patterns as well as at the fabric section in the flowershop up north.....bought a new layer cake I need to create with too!  There's purging and organizing to do throughout the house and hopefully some relaxing in that hammock!  

Until next time.............