Bill

My brother went to the hospital Wednesday afternoon, it is Friday morning and they are still trying to figure out exactly what is wrong with him.  He was having seizures and had stopped breathing at one point.  He has water on the brain now.. which is a complication of neurological issues he already had from a blood clot that was removed when he was born.  He is having trouble moving and talking.  My sister and nephew are keeping us all updated.

 Here is a recent picture of him and his daughter Elizabeth, carving pumpkins this year.

She is really close in age to Esme, either a month before or behind I forget which.

Christmas morning 2017

 'calf'-inated Minecraft cows for Christmas?
Mark got Esme a 24-pack of Mountain Dew - she has been wondering for a month what this huge square present was. *heh*

 

They both got new fleecies, too.  I actually got Esme a lot of clothes - because she's getting to that age I thought - but got a few toys as well and the beading things she asked for.

Is her cow safe between these two carnivores?

/She has a robot kit and a new Dremel tool (the big gift) to get into.  I joked her she was displaying her Daddy's eyebrows again when she looked at the bath bombs and speculated what they would actually do in the bathtub.  Ha.  Mark and I had made a pact just to get a few things for each other - but he ended up getting me a portable clothes closet (something I do need) and some yarn and a stick blender we can both use in the kitchen on drinks.

Grandma came down and she liked her gifts.  We had pulled pork and peach cobbler and sides, along with Esme's jell-o.  We put together Esme's robot kit and it worked!  Our car battery is acting up again... we'll see if the charger makes it work well enough to go over to our friend's family for pie and coffee later.

I popped the lens out of my glasses and bent the frame again... but got the lens back in.

Christmas Eve

Esme made her orange jell-o for tomorrow.  I put the red plates in the dishes to be ready.  The red dishes are one pre-Christmas present I asked for.  There are presents wrapped up under the tree and Santa has to not forget the stocking tonight!

Sweet Jordans in Paris, yarn and the bits

We had an afternoon out, Grandma and Esme and I, at the new bakery/deli in Paris  TN.  It is called Sweet Jordan's, and was started with a lot of community involvement to help provide jobs for people with special needs.  The location and the building are awesome, large, spacious and very inviting.

We had their special, and I was really happy to get soup and sandwich together - that is hard to find at anything less than a traditional restaurant.  Sometimes, at a well established 'traditional restaurant', greasy spoon all the way up to 'family dining'... I feel like I'm invading someone's cherished space, some tradition what have you... and I'm not sure if we can 'attend'... but I didn't get that feeling - more like a chain restaurant that was not a chain, but had the same 'anyone can come in' atmosphere.  It felt like you could come and go or sit down and enjoy, there was so much space and a variety of different sitting arrangements for different groups.

 There is a children's playplace that has been lovingly created, as well, to resemble a downtown street with shops, and a separate place with chairs and couches that Grandma said looked 'perfect for book club meetings.'

Yarn.
The pink is for a cowl for Esme, to see if she likes that more than a scarf.
The other is 'REEF' color in Red Heart, for me.. I guess as sort of a Christmas present.  I'm not sure what I'll make with it yet.  But it caught me... so I guess I have to find a pattern or at least an inspiration to try to knit.

twin catahoulas

Sweetie on left, Spud on the right.  We call them our 'twins'.

and just the opposite, here...

bits list

I was playing the Sims 3 game we have.  I feel like I lost a day or more on something that had no effect on real life.  That is why I don't play games that often.

Things that have been done:
fixed the wool hat
repotted the plants
cleaned out the fridge
put up the Christmas Tree
Did a bit more Welsh
painted and printed photos for the Photo Cube that Esme bought me for Mother's Day
put away the books that came back - found the new ones to borrow out

Things in progress
dishcloths
Christmas cards (need envelopes)
Laundry
reading the library book before it expires
mural at work

Things to do
clean up the sewing area
reorganize craft supplies (see above)
I'm looking at you: yarn blanket I started three years ago (see above)
run a duster over the bookshelves (and the laptop, while I'm at it)
wash Lucy's bed (not part of regular laundry)
find an 11 by 14 frame for the zoo portrait
Look up fiction books for Esme : animal themes or ecology themes
re-read my novel and decide what to do with it again (every year about this time, last 3 years running)

 And about ten other small cleaning jobs....

I now have to work until Sunday.  And the temperature is going down.

Our family zoo portrait

From left (clockwise) Minion, Freckles, Minerva, Lucy, Nova, Sweetie, Spud, Kitty (the goat), Dox, Daphne, Pumpkin, Callie.

Mark says my style isn't cubist, it's trapezoidal.  Ha.  I wasn't sure I was going to get everyone in there- started with the dogs and Esme said I had to add the goat, and then I had to find places to put the cats.

bits

It had been a hard couple of days for me - the plumbing work we did that one night, then the stress and headache from Esme getting in trouble at school - then I spent four hours working on the mural at work.  I fell out about 7 pm last night... woke up 2 and a half hours later to a phone call that my father's mother had passed away.  I had believed she had passed away (I'm not sure how I thought this, maybe something MY mom had told me that I misinterpreted or...) more than twenty years ago.  I was surprised when my father and stepmother visited several years ago that they told me she was still alive then.  My cousin said she was 86 years old.  I'll pass it on to Esme today, even though she didn't know about her.

We were going to make holiday cards today, or tomorrow.
She's taking the 'no computers' pretty well, rereading her Minecraft books, playing with toys, skating and she is allowed to watch her videos on her DVD player.  She said she apologized to the teacher at school - I hope she did.  Although, what she 'did' wasn't as serious as it could have been the added aggravation of not bringing home the notes and having to contact the parents to prove your point etc...

And she brought home all A's on her report card.. hardly anything even in the small assignments under 85 (and they drop the lowest each term). 

big trouble

Had to have a lengthy discussion last night with Esme about trouble in school... she had been charged with bringing us a note and informing us about it at the BEGINNING of the week... and we had to find out with a phone call on Thursday.  So, bigger trouble than just being in trouble - and no computers until Monday.

I had a terrible headache from yesterday afternoon on after that - although it roared on to the scene while listening to a very long-winded customer in appliances on the phone... I still feel like my head was beat up some this morning, but I'm on my way to work.  I have the weekend off.  Our playdate was cancelled because of the grounding.  I did say we should make some holiday cards as an activity this weekend.

I have projects I need to do.  Fix my wool hat.  Finish my dishcloth.  Buy the gift for her teacher and wrap it up... probably will have to do two gifts now, because her homeroom teacher she loves.. but this is the teacher she has told me she has had trouble with since early in the year.. thinking if it requires an amends gift or not.

//I've probably gained about five pounds back... considering it is Holidays it isn't that surprising.  Cutting back a little (hard, free food at work this week) but it is still too cold to really cut back much or do a lot of exercise... this is hibernation season my body tells me.. sit still and be warm.