Progress....

I'm entering page 5 territory, with just a couple of partial motifs left on page 4:

I kind of found a way to display it to take a straight-on picture. This'll be a bitch when I'm on page 15.

Here's where I left off on the BBD stocking last week:

I'm liking how this is coming out. Now if I'd devote an hour to it, I could have it finished and start on the next one.

Bob had his surgery Monday to repair his torn Achilles tendon. He was having breathing issues so they gave him an epidural or something similar so he was awake for it. He's in a lot of pain now, and can't get comfortable. He's got good pain drugs, but he says it only gives him about an hour of relief.  His surgeon said "it was a mess in there", but was confident that she was able to repair things satisfactorily. His follow up visit is in 2 weeks, so he's limited until then doing anything. Which is good; sometimes I think he gets impatient & pushes too much, too soon, and has setbacks. PAH! Men!

Bad Blogger

and typer too!

I worked on Garden Grew last night & hopefully tonight. I'll take a photo tomorrow. (Gotta space out these infrequent posts a bit!)

Axe is getting better; I'm just trotting her for now & building up our work out time. I can't tell if it's a rub/burn on her heel above her hoof or scratches (which is really a fungus-y thing). It's not scabbing over; it's dry before I ride, and then feels oozy when i'm done so I clean it up each night. Which doesn't allow a good hard scab to form. Dilemmas.

And another thing: "24" or "Closer"?

I can't watch both nor do i have taping abilities (my first HUGE disappointment with Verizon).

Spring time!

Here's Garden Grew:

I guess I need to find a better place to take the picture than holding it out (as far as I can) with one hand & snapping with the other. The right side is getting kind of dark and I've got another page to go...

It's being a lot of fun to stitch, as long as I don't go too fast and count recklessly.

I'm making gingerbread for tomorrow night! Yum! One of these days I'll figure out how to make a list of recipes in my sidebar- I think I posted the gingerbread recipe before.

AH HA! Here it is. Gingerbread recipe post.

Did you Ever....

Have one of those days where all you want to do is close yourself in the car and scream "AAAAARRRRRGGGG!!!!!"

My head is about to explode with all the nit-picky details scrambling around inside: file Em's taxes (she has to get her payment), file financial aid documents, get the rest of the documents for the refinancing & pray my house is worth the loan, worry about Bob, worry about Axe (who's Ok, I guess, I think she nicked herself on the side of her "bad" foot above the hoof with her new shoes, or the absc ess is draining thru her coronet band), there's more stuff in there I'm NOT remembering and it's making me crazy!!!!

I'm well into page 4 of Garden Grew but don't feel like taking a picture; Ill take one tomorrow.

Free jumping about 5 years ago. Wasn't she pretty?

Lazy Girl

I have a tiny bit of progress on both projects, but not enough to make me get off my ever-enlarging backside & take pictures.

I've been getting up more than 30 minutes earlier than normal so I can get to the barn before work and give the Princess her pedicures. No sign of an abscess coming thru, so it seems my farrier (see previous post!) may have been correct in diagnosing a bruise. Axe is walking on it fine, bearing her full weight on it normally. Her last bute was tonight, so we shall see what tomorrow afternoon brings, and again Saturday when we put those shoes back on. Here she is yesterday afternoon, stuffing her face while soaking her foot:

Look what the cat dragged in!

Stitching

I would have posted these earlier this weekend, but my hands seem to be very chapped or rough from being in water too much. I just didn't feel like touching fabric.

Garden Grew:

I got that pesky violet relocated to where it belongs, but not much else was accomplished.

BBD March Stocking:

I didn't get any time today to stitch- the farrier came at 9:00, and since I have to hold Ms. I-freek-on-the-cross-ties, and I had to discuss her foot; and then the vet was coming between 11 and 12, so I waited for her, for shots and to discuss the foot. The farrier says his gut is telling him it's a bruise; the vet thought it could be a combo of both bruise & abscess- "But if she doesn't improve by this weekend, you may want a couple of x-rays to rule out a fracture..." I had already discussed this option with Ernie and he concurred that she wouldn't be putting her full weight on her foot after only two days of soaking, and 4 doses of bute (one each feeding since Saturday PM) if it was a fracture. He was able to shoe both front feet, with her back sore foot on concrete, with no fidgety- pain issues. That took about a half hour, and she didn't budge the entire time. So the plan is to continue to soak until Saturday when Ernie comes again; cut back on the bute to once a day Wednesday & Thursday, and stop the bute on Friday, so Ernie can judge how well she's tolerating he pain. If he thinks she'll tolerate it, he can put her back shoes on, and I can continue to soak if necessary. Long story short: I didn't get to the office until 12:30- no lunch break. Which reminds me: I'm HUNGRY!

Happy Birthday!

Some one turns 17 today!

Ouchy!

I swear -stick a needle in my eye-swear, that Axe is a horse of generally good health and fitness. However, I've spent more on vet calls for injuries & lameness issues this past year, than on probably the past 5 years combined. I tend to not write about her when things are going well, and babble on & on when things are not. The latest seems to be an abscess in her right rear hoof. I rode her on Wednesday and thought she seemed a little gimpy on that leg. When I was done, I checked her entire leg for any heat or sensitivity & found none, so I attributed it being stiff because of not riding enough over the past month, and her being in her stall a lot more due to weather on Monday & Tuesday.

I didn't ride Thursday, but went on Friday. I noticed she had her weight off that toe as I polo' ed her legs, and I had to step her forward & back several times so she'd bear weight so I could wrap that limb. I checked that hoof, and she did have a concave/convex (?) ball of mud, which I picked out and she seemed happier to put her foot down. She still seemed gimpy, though, and reluctant to canter, so I made an easy trot/walk ride out of it for her, & we did a lot of circles. Back in the barn, she kept her toe pointed, but no heat anywhere. Jodi turned her out in the paddock Saturday morning as usual, and I got a call from Kathy in the afternoon that Axe was refusing to move in the paddock, and wouldn't come in, and that she appeared to not be putting ANY weight on that leg. I ran down , and the poor thing didn't want to move. It took literally 20 minutes to walk the 50 feet from the paddock to her stall. I could make her walk 1-3 steps at a time, then she'd have to rest. She did, however, stuff her face with grass every time we stopped, it being greener on the other side and all. So I knew the pain wasn't excruciating enough to take away her willingness to eat. I ended up calling the vet. The drive -up fee for an emergency is $175. YIKES! The vet also couldn't find any heat or sensitivity in her leg, so concentrated on her hoof. Axe was sensitive with the testers, and the Dr. pulled the shoe which caused horribly excruciating pain. She did a block, like a Novocain on her foot and sure enough she walked fine on it, and even put full weight on it to rest her other legs. The block can also mask a fracture of the bone in her hoof, but the conservative diagnoses is an abscess. The farrier and the vet are scheduled for Monday anyway (more spring shots), so either or both can do a follow-up exam. I have to soak it twice a day & poultice it. I went up to take her blankets this afternoon, and she had pulled off all the wrapping, and it looked like some pus or gooey stuff was on the pad, so hopefully, it's already come to a head and burst.

It's not the care at this barn, I'm positive any of Axe's injuries would have happened at any barn. I think it's just a run of bad luck. I wish some good luck would come along, though, in the form of money so I could pay off this bad luck stuff!

*SIGH*

Garden Grew:

See that green leafy stuff at the right? That's page 4. And in my impatience to begin page 4, I started the leaf in the wrong place.

Here:

See where the arrow touches the red ellipse? That point has to be where the arrowhead points- 3 stitches to the right of the squirrel's ear.

It all has to come out.

Sucks to be me.

At least LOST (even in repeat form) is on tonight.

It's Growing...

Garden Grew:

Still on page 3; this one's taking a bit longer than the other two pages, I don't know why.

Can't remember what's on TV tonight (nor my pronouns).

Cute Overload

Have you all seen the new Blackbird Design monthly stockings series? Cute or what??!! It really makes up for that last chart from the last series (aka "Shrek Glove"- kudos to the person who came up with that  name- it's perfect!)

I started one of the March ones, it being March and all:

Close-up of the stitched stuff:

Tonight I'll be working on Garden Grew; no progress since last post (we all snacked & gabbed last Thursday night!).

Oh- PS- I'd REALLY like my one hour back, thank you very much.

Food Post!

Haven't done one of these in a while. I don't have any stitching photos worth sharing, although I did start a March stocking from the new BBD series.

Anyway, I felt like pizza:

Took a one lb. package of supermarket pizza dough and split it in half (makes 2 pizzas with thin-ish crust). For one pizza: I sautéed a finely chopped onion and clove of garlic in olive oil until onion was soft & translucent- starting to get a bit brown on the edges. I partially cooked about 1-1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets in the microwave, drained them, and added to the onions, and continued sauteing a few more minutes. In a medium bowl, mix about 1-1/2 cups ricotta with 1/2 cup shredded parmesan, salt, pepper and a tablespoon of minced fresh parsley, and 1/2  teaspoon each of oregano & basil.

Form pizza crusts in two separate pizza pans. Top one crust with ricotta mixture, spreading to the edges. Top with onion/broccoli mixture, evenly distributing over crust. Top with an even layer of shredded mozzarella cheese, about 1-1/2 cups. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 15-18 minutes, until bottom of crust is golden, and cheese is lightly golden.

My other pizza is just a plain cheese:

Tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and some cheddar. I undercooked this one- the bottom was pale- because I knew I'd be eating it another day & thus re-heating it.

Look at this slice of bread I had the other day:

Huge whole in the middle, and it was about the 5th slice from the end. Made for a messy peanut butter sandwich.

Axe is good. Wasn't the weather today just awesome??? I could be perfectly happy with today's weather EVERY day for the rest of my life, even if the leaves didn't change.

Yes, I AM a slacker...

However, I have been stitching, just not bothering to even turn on the computer some nights.

Here's Garden Grew:

I'm about halfway thru page 3- that motif on the lower right is the center of the sampler, and I'm working on the top "row" of the pages. There are 4 rows of five pages (see previous post)

I finished Blue Moon:

"Blue Moon" by Bent Creek Crescent Colors substitutions on white 28 ct. Jobelan

Had another snow day on Monday. We got about 6-8" of that white crap. It's been frigid ever since- 20's for highs, single numbers at night.

Bob was in the hospital again last week. The actress Geena Davis, who grew up in Wareham, her father was his roommate at the end of the week. She was there Saturday night when I went to visit. She's very tall (over 6 feet), very slender. She was wearing jeans & a sweater. Bob said she was there most of the time with her father, which meant a lot of people were constantly in the room to "see" the celebrity. I said hello, and left her alone. I would have loved an autograph, but the situation didn't lend itself very un-awkwardly. I'm more impressed that she tried out for the Olympic archery team and almost made it, than with her acting career, although she could "President"  Hillary under the table, even if it was just acting.

Bob's doctors have finally determined that his pneumonia keeps recurring because he's inhaling minute particles of food & water as he eats. That flap in his esophagus (I can't remember what it's called) and his throat muscles aren't working correctly. He's been given tips on how to eat and what not to eat. He says there isn't anything corrective that can be done- it's permanent damage that he'll have to learn to live with. So as disappointing as the diagnosis is, at least he finally has a diagnosis.

Axe has been good. She had the first set of spring shots on Monday. Did someone say "spring"?

LOST is on tonight.

TTFN