Ren crossed Rainbow Bridge at 8:15pm

 

On this day, July 7, 2010 at 8: 15pm, Ren passed this life over to Rainbow Bridge.

Sad, oh so sad, we are what happened in 3 hours flat.

I've had many email inquires on Ren and I was about to post that he was doing ok when he had an aweful stroke and pulled to the left paralyzed and we all went into panic mode.

We had to call emergency vet and went to them and Ren passed at 8: 15pm tonight.

I'm sorry to post this but I should have known this was coming.

He was my heart for almost 17 years.

When we arrived at the vet, unfortunately they had to give him a shot that helped him cross over to the bridge.

He was tired. He was loved. He was like a person in the family and I loved him very much.

I had just laid down to rest and he had a full blown stroke and couldn't get out of torsion to the left. I threw on clothes and forgot I had shingles. BG and I were all upset.

He was almost gone by the time we reached the emergency vet. His heart was slow, but I cried all the way to the vet office holding his little cold hand. When he died I bawled at the desk as BG was paying the bill.

I held him and he went to sleep, painlessly.

We went by and asked our neighbors to please help us find a spot in these rock mountains to bury his limp body. They had lost several pets and know how hard it is.

BG and friend buried him and at 10pm, Ren was laid to rest in a special spot, in a special box in a special blanket, with his favorite tshirt on and his name on his box.

I can't tell you how much I miss him.

He went though so much with me. Even at the end he snuggled in my arms and slept.

Vet said he had a massive stroke. It was his time but I wasn't really prepared for the shot they put in his heart. He was close to death he didn't even move when they put the shot in his heart.

There were no veins left in his legs. I had just bathed him and put a fresh t-shirt on. He was resting quietly until he had the stroke.

We ran around madly trying to find the vet's cell phone number but finally we found one who we drove to help us through what was going on.

I will never forget him. My only wish was that Brandon and Meghan could have seen him one more time but they don't even care one bit.

He was buried in a special spot in our yard and a butterfly plaque placed over his spot in the dark by BG and our neighbors who love animals and know what this means.

this day in 2010, I lost a true friend.

God Bless Ren.

He knew his time and only God knew his destiny.

He's waiting now for me at Rainbow Bridge.

On the way home, holding his lifeless body in a blanket, the most beautiful sunset was in the front of us all the way home.

Our trip is canceled. Between Shingles and this I give up, just to rest for the following days.

I think I've cried enough I have no fluid left in my body. Oh, how pets can hold our hearts.

Tomorrow I'm planting something near his grave. I miss him so.

When learning to quilt with a new rotary......

~~~Don't pick when your on loopy meds for Shingles or you might do like me and after cutting the wrong square size twice and had an itch, as I was reading I just took the hand WITH THE ROTARY and ALMOST itched my head......that would have been an instant haircut.....I laughed and Bodyguard and I were in the basement cleaning and we couldn't stop laughing at that. I said "I almost scratched my head with this rotary!"  Body Guard went OMG!

He said maybe it might not be a good time to use the new 60mm rotary.

Here are the fabbies though in lovely pinks and a free pattern for it to make a blanket way too big for Abbie but I'm practicing and hope to make her a little quilt. She will be forgiving of errors.........

found this in the basement in a box tucked away......I gave this to Meghan one year and she was working real hard on a pattern. She cross stitched pretty doggone good too.

this is where she got. We both love music and she picked this one out to stitch.

This is a keeper.

and the DMC is going to be sorted in my box!!  A great find!

You just never know what you might unpack in the basement. We've just about got it though and it's looking like a house now......instead of a clutter mess.

BG hopped on the exercise machine after he moved it for the first time in 7 years. I was shocked!

back to this pattern......says it is for beginners......probably healthy beginners, not itching beginners.

here's my first square. Yep, measured wrong. Should have been 2 and 3/4 in and I read 2 and 1/4........oh well, I am practicing.

I know how to half a recipe for less folks to eat but I don't exactly know if I could half a pattern if you want it smaller. ??????

Well, best to get back to the needle and thread.

At least if I want to scratch it won't be like the rotary blade...LOL (I still am laughing at that myself)

So far on staycation.......

Well, didn't think I would be posting again this soon. But, life has a way of changing plans. Felt pretty cranky and tired for 2 days at least and then this morning woke with a stinging, itchy rash on my back. Took a mirror and looked and said. ____!  Went to the doc today and have the Shingles. Lovely. We had some plans for a short road trip and I'm still determined to take it, even so with pills this big to stop the rash from worsening.

Antivirals to stop the Shingles at the starting point. Can you believe the size of these pills. Had to cut those in half.

Between that and cream I'm determined to go on this road trip soon.

I lazed around today and Miss Abbie could tell I didn't feel so good.

We rented this movie to watch tonight.

This is a long movie......so if you rent it, pop 3 bowls of popcorn.

But, it was definitely high action and you will sit on the edge of your seat...or the couch....LOL

Sometimes, Abbie peaked out of my arms when the parts were not as scarey, like when the world wasn't falling apart in the movie.

Then, when the real action started and the world was falling apart, the end, she did open her eyes.

Let's hope dogs can't get chicken pox virus.

Because she has been velcroed to me all day and night.

I did throw a few stitches in a freebie by The Sampler Girl, I Love Watermelon.

While I snacked on this Praline Ice Cream tonight. A great Summertime comfort food.

Back to sleepy time. I can't believe tomorrow is already mid-week. Where does the time go?

Taking a Break

Taking a break this week. Postings will be moderated beginning again on Saturday. Unfortunately, I will not be able to moderate them this week. I still love your comments and you can post, but it will be Saturday before they show on the blog though.

Time for some reflection.....not sure on the relaxation part, but deep reflection.

Thank you again and I'll see you Saturday.

Happy Fourth!

Land of the free because of the brave.

Happy Birthday, America!

Midnight Progress

Way teenie for me. One over one. Practicing on this freebie.

Spent most of the day deep cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry. Hubbie spent all day cleaning out books, 30 year old books, taking off -----grip yourself---1200 lbs to the dump as they were so outdated. He said he has 1200 lbs more and then the building will be clean that he was renting for this.

Cleaning clutter is reducing stress immensely.

It's fun to find old pictures.

I found this one.

Panama City Beach, Summer 1973, 9 years old. Skinny as a rail.  Funny to me. It's kinda funny that I sat on the diving board and never jumped off one.  ;)

Sad to watch the news that the water there is affected by the oil spill now.

I remember the water was clear and blue. Haven't been back since that time. I'm surprised I don't have white Solarcaine on my face because I burned so easy and ran around getting coated with the stuff regularly.

Finally about an hour ago picked up stitching in my basket and crossed my eyes with reading glasses as I watch the Michael Jackson saga on TV. The details are telling of themselves.

I can only work on one over one for a short time but this is my midnight progress.

Tomorrow is the Fourth!  Enjoy the freedom and the fireworks we have right now in this country.

Till later,

Jennifer

The promised Christmas in July Give-a-way Post is HERE

It's time now for the Christmas in July give-a-way!   I promised this about a week ago and July is here.

This is the post to comment if you would like a chance to win these.

The pattern is called Sallie's Feather Tree by Carriage House Samplings and the scissors are called the Augusta scissors which has meaning to me, spent many years in Augusta Georgia.

So factos about this giveaway are:

• 
  
  one posting here if you are a follower of this blog or become one the day you post
• 
  
  2nd posting here if you have a blog and shared it on your sidebar
• 
  
  3rd posting if you would also like to join a SAL on this piece starting probably August 1st to give you time if you don't win this to order/get supplies, i.e. pattern, threads, etc.
• 
  
  International accepted if it's written in English
• 
  
  starts today through July 15th!!
• 
  
  the random computer generator will choose so make each post separate. The drawing will be on July 16th.
• these are brand-new in the package

Good luck and let the fun begin  ;)

What's in the fiber?

I love this Norman Rockwell painting. Reminds me of the brief moments in time when I stop long enough to look in the mirror and take care of myself instead of other people. I also start to freak out at the new grays or the new wrinkles.......LOL

 It's a great feeling to help people get healthy.

 It's even better to help people help themselves get healthy.

And then it feels best to help myself get healthier......

 but most of the time that is on the backburner and I am the first to admit that trait, not that I think it's a good thing at all. In fact, recognizing burnout is sometimes hard for me. Preventing it, though, is the best if possible.

That's why I'm so thankful we acrue some time to take off now so as one of my good friends say in hopeless cases....... help me help you.....then we  laugh.  We have to laugh or otherwise we would be nuts by now.....wait a minute......that's it, I'm nuts!  LOL

This is just totally my opinion and I'm sure everybody has one (I digress)  but I think all woman are really little girls inside for the rest of their life and it's the tweaking of how we nurture that inner girl through life that is critical.

 Stitching for me is the best way I nurture myself. It's a spontaneous, Crayola-filled moments, that makes me smile. Looking at fabric colors or thread colors, or cruising in an art museum, listening to music are also good ways to nurture. That's the time I can choose, I can "fix" something if it didn't work out, I can start on something new any or everyday or I can choose not to for a few weeks. I can tell when the thread knots. I know what's on the underside.

In life, I sometimes don't get to choose but get dealt, I don't even realize there are knots and I can't imagine what the underside looks like.

But everybody is different.

I can be the first to vouche for not nurturing that spirit sometimes and being pretty burned out.

That's what staycations are for me. Everybody has their way of nurturing themselves and for me it's not expensive trips or cruises that I replenish my inner soul, it's time away for the taking care of all things/people and doing a self-check on what I need to work on.

The noise is away and I look in the mirror.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if it's a woman thing, a Virgo thing, or just a characteristic, not always good to want to take care of everybody's problems or "fix them".

It took me about 45 years to realize I can't fix people but the sweet release it brings to let things go for awhile and take care of me is becoming through the years easier to do and without as much guilt. In looking back I can't say I had the role model for this so it's taken a bit of time. Growing up there were no boundaries at all.

I know this had an imprint on what is "in my fiber" today.

Things I learned I didn't want to do again.

But when dad is sitting as the king rattling the ice in his glass and banging it on the table until you fill it every meal and if it didn't get refilled fast enough I was called a huzzy, or there was white bread missing from a meal, or I didn't get his shirts ironed out straight enough on Saturdays, or I shelled so many beans and peas my fingers were purple and blistered while my friends were at the pool, or I had to cook every Saturday lunch and it had to be on the table exactly at 12 for him or then payback, or when I chose to go to college.....oh my gosh, that was an insult, I got slapped around for saying that and told I was stupid and would never be anybody.

Heck, it's funny now. Just this past year he was calling me up apologizing for all this and other stuff and I just laughed. I told him that's what made my fiber. It helped me grow up fast. It helped me be determined to never be totally reliant on a man. So I thanked him. He didn't know how to take that.

Yeah he even said", "we'll call you next week and be right back on track"........still waiting Dad.......4 months now.....I suspect the truth.got a little too much into his uncomfortable zone. Me? Happy? Making lemons out of lemonade? Yep.....dad, I'll be waiting for that call again.........right.

So, I guess it was natural to be more of a "fixer".

I've seen more women at the brink of extreme stress in the past year than I ever have in 20 years practice. The environment, economy, health, relationship strains, etc. just overflow all into the health of the woman.

I think sometimes women just need someone to listen to them. The world is on fast motion, an instant everything, staring at cell phones and texting while driving or anytime. There is a generation, I would say, the less than 30 age group that is really into instant gratification and if it's impossible to give at that moment, then they completely do not understand it. It's foreign. Having a mood swing premenstrually during puberty now is totally unacceptable to the general public. TV has folks convinced there is a pill for everything. Natural occurences like the ebb and flow of cycles are a part of life.

They know everything already by 18 and have little no respect for professionals. I've been cursed at, told I was the only adult in the room, asked questions you would never, ever  have thought of many years ago while mothers are sitting there not a word spoken, allowing their kids to jerk them around emotionally, financially, and the women ask us to "fix them". We smile and try to help them help themselves first, then listen to things that make my little dramas a breeze.

I mean like everything. I've gotten phone calls from mothers in a rage wanting me to fix their daughter for.....throwing a biscuit in their face while they drove to school that morning or staying up all night texting and being a zombie during the day or I could go on and on with "indiscretions" that would pop your eyes out.

Women are burned out by the time they finish raising kids and it really shows when it comes to their own health. Me included. While listening I usually at some point ask what's one thing they can do just for themselves and 80% of the time they give me a blank expression and can't recall one thing.

My husband has learned over the years that I use the phrase  "it's just not in my fiber" and just this week I heard him say that about himself.....thought it was funny. I don't know why I say that but it basically is my response to things I can't or won't do. Loving a needle and thread probably intiated the phrase even when sewing on those cardboards with punched holes at the age of 3. LOL Seriously, this is not to mean that I have the perfect constellation of genetics here...not at all, I'm included in the burnout generation and remember the days of guilt when I chose not to cater to the every whim of an adolescent. I'm sure my kids could tell you some words of description even to this day because they didn't get those new cars at 16 or have all they could have and OMG! assume bills gradually after 18...that was a real shocker :o

Bills?  What are bills? LOL

I hope they learned a little about respect but.......... I'm not sure on that one.

I hope for them that they are happy and able to be independent and take care of themselves.

We all have our own "fiber" we are made of and different is good. Knowing what's in your fiber or what's not in your fiber is probably something that occurs with age. Thank goodness for wisdom over the years which unfortunately sometimes could only be attained by experiences dealt to us.

Taking a week off every now and again is a way for me to do a fiber check so I can get back on the road to "fixing" in another week.

I started my staycation after work with a pedicure. I was amazed at how I think that is a luxury and get one about 3 times a year and there was a lady with 2 year old twins, holding them down for their pedicures while they were screaming and also was homeschooling their 8 year old son so he was forever asking questions about whales.

For a brief moment I thought....homeschooling....guilt.....then teaching my daughter that a pedicure is a luxury not a regular thing.....guilt......but it didn't hang around long by the time I got home.  LOL

I'm pretty happy with my fiber now. It took me about 47 years to get there.

Thank you to all readers and I do enjoy comments. Sometimes I get long-winded and write alot and not the typical show and tell stitchy blog but this is me.

It's what's in my fiber.

Not that I'm counting.....

But only 3 hours and 24 minutes and 47 seconds till vacation...........happy dance!

Gathering up some ideas for a freebie sampler

Today, I gathered up some finishing items for a freebie I really like on The Sampler Girl's blog, I Love Watermelon.  Check it out.  I loved this fabbie and trim and hope to finish into a small pillowkeep for the kitchen.
This is MUCH better than thinking about snakes before bedtime. ;)
In fact, just looking at it again makes my mouth water because I do love watermelon.

I yelled snake! He said worm.

Living in the woods brings lots of treasures and joys....and sometimes, the ugly....like worms, and snakes and spiders and yucky stuff.

Tom, the cat, likes to bring us snakes, baby snakes. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten bit.

Our casual strolling in and around the house was like this:

me:  what's Tom looking at?

BG: a worm

me:  are you sure? that's a big worm. Worms don't have diamond-shaped heads!

BG standing over them:  Yep, that's just a worm.

me ,walking over there after looking at the SNAKE and yelling : THAT's A SNAKE! SNAKE SNAKE!

me, taking a stick after BG stomps on it over and over while it wiggles to it's death: SNAKE!


BG: WORM.

me:  that's a snake, OMG, a baby snake, where's the mama?  OMG, the electricians were here today with the basement door open. OMG! my sewing area, laundry, office....SNAKES!

BG: ok, it's a snake. (calmly)

me: so that's it?  just a snake? weren't you a Boy Scout?  I mean I'm a girlie girl and know that's a snake (not calmly)

BG:  well, we live in the woods and I didn't have my glasses on. (calmly in his Rhett Butler tone)

Me:  That's still a snake ( in my Scarlett accent) and I went promptly in the house.
I felt like grabbing some mint and making a mint julep.

So I give up. Tonight I will dream of snakes. I'm not an expert but Copperheads, deadly Copperheads are the common ones to our area and this one looks like a baby one.
So  much for trying to wander around the "yard" for relaxation tonight---in flipflops......

was it the fresh lemon balm?

or the troll?

or the butterfly bush?

or the mums blooming in July?

 

nope, my mind just remembers the snake.

  I know there are good ones and bad ones but in my mind all are bad, I really don't like them AT ALL!

All the lovely walks, woods, blooming of flowers and front porch rocking just can't cancel out screaming the word, SNAKE.

Reminds me of when we went tubing in the river with the kids. Brandon was a teen then and I was having a good day in July in a pink tube just floating along the river with alot of other folks, and then I hear Brandon behind me yell, SNAKE!

I still to this day don't know if he really saw one or just wanted to see me flop out of the tube and scream! He was always making jokes....but the word, and I'm convinced......LOL

Thursday thoughts

Stayed up quite late last night with an ear infection. I finally relented to taking the dreaded antibiotics that usually kill my GI tract but the pain was too severe.....huh????? what did ya say? yep, can't hear too good out of it either.
I think I was about 8 years old when I had an ear infection last......lucky me, right? So, maybe it will be 40 more years till another one.

So, 2am came and finally I went to sleep with a throbbing like my heart had dislocated to my left side of the head.
Abbie stayed up with me like a champ as always, snuggling with me while I read. The alarm at 6a was too early.

Thursday is already here and I have my list of things to do for this week and I haven't struck off many on my lists, but......life is meant to be fun and spontaneous! (most of the time)

So far today I've:

• ate at Mickie D's twice today while my stomach is expanding, readying itself for the antibiotic kill!
• Drank a large Decaf coffee with a yummy cinnamon melt from Mickie D's.
• worked somewhere in between all this....
• lunchtime, went roaming through thrift stores again......went for one thing, got 4 but they just marked down, the already marked-down, 5 minutes before I got there so it was 50% off---a good deal.
• hope to make the post office for the third day in a row now!  Errands are just not happening so fast when work is going on.....but anyway, I'm off all next week with hubbie and we have some day trips and stuff planned----can't wait!!!! It includes the state of Tennessee.
• totally almost went to a quilt store and gripped the wheel of the car pretty hard not to turn in that direction.  Have fabric? Got machine? Got ideas?  need skills.....
• plan to refrain from stopping by Walmart, my favorite place as I went to Target yesterday. I digress....
• supper thoughts?  I have no idea, if it involves washing dishes, I'm not interested.
• thinking about Abbie getting her first nail trim. Wondering how many people she has snapped and growled at by now?
• thinking.....the day is not over yet......but only 1 more day till the weekend!!!! WOOHOO and then a whole week where I won't ask anyone "when was your last period?"  That brings joy to my soul!