Do I Blog?

Yesterday someone on Facebook asked if anyone blogged.
I reluctantly said "yes, but not in quite a while".
That made me feel guilty.

I then came over to my Blog and read the last entry and realized that I had left everyone hanging!

I'm fine!  I'm ok!  I'm alive!

We returned from Florida (insurance made us) on March 14th and I've been hospitalized another 2 times since then.

My Cardiologist changed some of the meds that my Family Doctor had put me on and then my Family Doctor changed some of the meds that the Cardiologist had me on..........my poor mind and body have been reeling from all the changes.

But, I seem to be stable now for the moment.......hopefully for a long, long time.

Yes I have more appointments in the coming weeks with both Cardiologist and Family Doctor, plus a few other doctors and tests thrown in for good measure.

I'm really praying to get good reports from all of them.

PLEASE????????

Genes, Lifestyle or just the way life is sometimes.......

So we've been in wonderful, warm, sunny Florida for 4-1/2 months.......feeling great......enjoying nature and all it's wonders..........Disney-ing in amazement........family and friends visiting........life is good!

Last Sunday, I got to bed at my regular time which is between 9 and 10......trying to sleep and my heart sets to thumping and skipping beats.  This is nothing new for me but I start to get anxious when this happens so I take an Ativan prescribed by the family doctor, to take the edge off.

I try to relax........time passes.......my husband is sound asleep beside me and I'm wide awake, beginning to freak because the thumping and skipping is not stopping as it should.

Long story short it's now 1 am on Monday - 9-1-1..........ambulance arrives and tells me (as if I didn't already know) that I am in Atrial Fibrilation.  Off we go to the hospital, John following behind the ambulance (God I love him so).

Going over speed bumps and who knows what else while the EMT guy (cute as hell by the way) is trying to put an I.V. into my arm.  "Bump"....oh my vein collapsed??  Try another one!  Argh!  Finally gets it in and we just chat the rest of the way.

We arrive in Emerg and it is packed to the rafters, people all over the halls lying in stretchers......bad night to get sick.

They rush me right into Room 8 where there is a heart monitor set and ready to go.  Doctor's Assistant, Doctor, Nurses and Techs standing over me plugging me into the monitor, taking vitals, asking a million quests and starting some I.V. meds to slow down my heart.

Simulation, not really me.

My poor Johnny is sitting in a chair in the room just watching this all go on.

Cardiologist comes in later and says that I'm being admitted but there are no rooms available so I just have to sit tight and wait.  I enquire as to any idea how long this wait may be and they say it could/would be hours yet.

I tell John to go home and get some rest and come back in the morning.  If I'm not in Emerg, I'm in a room somewhere in this unknown place.

I finally manage to fall asleep, only to be woken up every couple of hours for vitals and blood tests and who knows what else........falling asleep in between........

Tech comes in with a wheelchair.......we're taking you for a cat scan to see if you have any blood clots on your lungs........OMG!

Back to the room...........please sleep come and let me rest............

My heart rate is finally back to normal (thank God) and then around 6 am a porter comes in with a wheel chair and says I'm going to my room on the 3rd floor!

I get to the room, wanting only to sleep.....my roommate has the T.V. going (what can she be watching at 6 am?)  I look over and she's watching cartoons!  Okay, looks like I've got one doozie of a roomie!!!

I manage to sleep for a few hours and when I awaken......I see John sitting watching me sleep.

I'm exhausted but thrilled to be feeling normal again and looking at that beautiful face of my husband..........

Tuesday afternoon I'm discharged with a new drug to keep my heart rate down.......and I should be okay.

Sure wish they said "would" instead of "should"..............


....................to be continued..............

I'm such a slacker..............

Well, here I am again after being gone for so long.

Lots has happened since my last post..........we've been in Central Florida (Kissimmee area) since October 30th, 2011.

We drove down in beautiful fall weather, over the hills and in the woods to grandmothers.....er sorry, my mind wander sometimes.........

Anyway it took us two days to get here (22 hours approximately) and we've been enjoying the warm sunny weather for almost 4 months.

Our rental Villa in Poinciana, Fl

I'll tell you more about our time in the next update.........

I just wanted you to know I AM BACK!!!!

New listing new posting.........

A friend of mine started a blog the other day and her second posting was about inspirations.

It was a really wonderful post and I loved everything she spoke about.

This weekend, for some unknown reason, I was inspired to make a Mickey Mouse Hat for my Etsy Shop.

Hmmmm, maybe I dreamt about it............

My cat and my hat

A week in the life.........

In my last posting, I wrote that it had been a month since I blogged.......and now it's two months after that!  I don't know where the time goes, but if anyone finds it can you send it back to me?  I'd really appreciate it.

I am so busy........my little Etsy shop (www.thebabycrow.etsy.com) is doing better than I ever expected or dreamt.  I'm thrilled!

I am getting compliments from my customers that I never expected or dreamt also.  It's so wonderful!

John (my husband) and I are leaving for Florida for the winter in 7 days and I'm really trying so hard to get my act together.  If you know me at all, you know my organizational skills are the best....but lately I seem to be falling down on the job.

I have lists EVERYWHERE!  Lists of what I've sold....lists of what I've bought (bookkeeping-wise), lists of names, lists of items to make, lists of items I have made, lists of things to buy to take to Florida, lists of things to buy in Florida, lists of things to bring back from Florida and of course, packing lists galore!!

Some of my lists

I don't like lists, at least not ones that don't have checkmarks beside everything......I like having everything organized and done......especially with only 7 days to go!  Heavens.....I used to be all packed and ready to go at least a month before and now.....don't remind me....7 days.......eek!

On Tuesday we went to a wonderful luncheon for a 50th Wedding Anniversary for a great couple who live here in Sandycove.  There were 21 of us and it was really so nice to see everyone before we leave.  3 other couples are heading south too so that gave a lot of people an opportunity to say "so long" until the Spring.  We were there for just over 2 hours......I was joking with some of the people that I had to get home to see if I got an order in my email and they laughed.

I got home and it wasn't funny...........I had FOUR ORDERS waiting for me!!!  Holy Cow, I have to leave in a week!  I have to get organized!  I have to pack!  I have to make:  One Sock Monkey Hat,  two Firefighter Helmets and a Hat and Bootie set.

Okay, I can do this no problem!  Then I noticed that 3 of the 4 orders were for Halloween so I had to get them done immediately in order to get them in the mail on Thursday morning so that they'd arrive in time!  Holy cow!

I sat myself down...took a deep breath....then got back up again....I'd better check my yarn supply to make sure I have enough of the yarn I need to make these Hats/Helmets.  Whew!  I had enough for the sock monkey hat and lots of red for the two helmets so everything was fine......remain calm and start crocheting!

I thought I'd make the Sock Monkey first because it is the most finicky with having to sew on the ears, mouth, eyes and make braids for the ear flaps......good idea, get the hard one out of the way and then on to the helmets.  I decided to multi-task so when I was making the Monkey, I checked the helmet order to see if there were any special instructions such as size and numbers for the shield.  Uh oh!  Trouble.

One of them wanted the helmet to be YELLOW.......YELLOW?  Why yellow you say?  Dad is a Firefighter and his helmet is yellow so he'd like it to match his real helmet so they can go out together on Halloween...... also would like to have his number "31" on his baby son's helmet too so they would look alike.  Aww, how sweet!

I turned to my retired Firefighter husband and enquired "honey?  What colour  yellow would a yellow firefighter's helmet be?  Would it be bright yellow, pale yellow, golden yellow?"  He said "I've never seen a yellow firefighter's helmet".  WHAT?

Okay time to email "Dad" and ask him.  **working away on the sock monkey**  No reply.
Waiting and working on the sock monkey.  Still  no reply.

I finally finished the Sock Monkey Hat and by then it was getting really late,  time to go to bed.  No reply to my email yet.  No sleep.  Oh no!  I need to sleep so I can get up and make these and get them in the mail by Thursday at the latest!  No sleep, can't stop thinking about the yellow helmet.  I get up and Okay!  There is an email from "Dad"........"sorry I don't know what colour you would call it....I didn't realize there were different yellows".........my response "Please send me a picture of your helmet right away"...........back to bed........no sleep.  I really want to help this guy and his son have a great halloween but I can't sleep for thinking about the damn helmet!  Argh.

I guess I finally fell asleep and when the morning came I jumped out of bed (not really, I have bad knees and that would really hurt).....I roll out of bed, walk to the living room, turn on the computer and there it is!  A picture of the yellow helmet!  Wonderful........

"Dad's" Yellow Helmet!

UH OH............!

I don't have any yellow that colour in my stash!

I have my breakfast....and we make a run over to Michaels to get some yellow yarn.....easy right?  Wrong!  They don't have the right colour either!.........OH NO!  What the heck am I going to do, I don't want to disappoint my customer or his precious little baby boy.  I know, I'll run over to Walmart and see if they have any!  "Marilyn!!".....my husband yells "I found some"......I go over to the next aisle and there is a HUGE ball of the right colour of yellow yarn!  I'm saved!  Holy crap it's $9.99 plus tax!  I'm only charging the guy $25.00 for the helmet.  Oh well, it's for a good cause............so I buy it and we head back home.

I thought I'd make the red one first because it was going to the U.S. and I wanted to be sure that it was ready to mail in the morning.....the yellow one was going to a town in Ontario near the Quebec border...no problem, it will get there on time........right Canada Post?

Next I start on the yellow one.  I've never used the yarn I bought before and I can only hope that it's the same as the regular yarn........I measure as I go along and everything is starting to come together, and it's looking good!  Yahooooo!   Hours later I make the shield and start the numbering.....why oh why can't it be a zero?  Just a simple zero?  No, it's a 31........going to take longer, of course.

It's time for dinner........I'll do that and relax and then put it all together and give it to John so he can get it ready for the mail (he's my wrapper and get-it-ready-to-ship unpaid employee).

After dinner, I sew on the shield and stand back to look at it............I've done it!  And it looks great if I do say so myself.  And all 3 items are going to get to their destinations in time for Halloween!

I'm exhausted, but so happy, 3 more satisfied customers!  Now tomorrow I'll do the hat and booties......good night......zzzzzzzzz..........

Where does the time go.........?

Holy cow!  I just realized that it's been almost a month since I last blogged.....unreal......

What have I been doing all this time?  

Well, I've certainly been doing a lot of collaborating with Tim on my website.....he's loving it, I'm finding it very stressful......and I'm not doing anything!

We have gone through quite a few scenarios, added some things, subtracted some thing, hated some things, loved lots of  things.......and now, it's almost time to go "live".

I've also been crocheting up a storm.  Not only for my Etsy shop and my website but also for a huge Craft Sale here in our community where I live on October 15th.

It will be my very first craft sale since I started making baby booties in June.  I'm going to take lots of my baby things and a few things not related to babies such as dish/face cloths, a couple of wrist cuffs that I really like, a few headbands and a few coffee mug cosies.

You see, we live in an "Adult Lifestyle Community" which is a nice way of saying that everyone who lives here is old.  Not very many people interested in Baby things so I make the others hoping that they sell.

A lot of people from outside our community also come to the Craft Sale from Innisfil, Barrie and even Bradford and Newmarket.......it's been held at the same time, same place for years and years.  They also advertise on T.V. and Radio which helps get a lot of people coming.

Hopefully a lot of people who know people who are pregnant......having baby showers, etc. will come and be interested in my products.

If you've visited my Etsy shop and seen the pricing on it......just to let you know I will be lowering the prices for this sale..........wanna come?

I'll post more about it as it gets closer to the date just in case anyone reading this would be interested in coming.  Loads and loads and loads of vendors......they also have a cafe set up so you can have a tea or coffee, sandwich and a cookie while you take a break from shopping!

I will of course, also let you know when my website is "live".......!!!

That's about it for this time, short but sweet..........I didn't want to leave it much longer without writing something!

See you soon...............

Addictions, Obsessions and Love..............

So let's see, where were we on this voyage.........oh yes......

I've told you about my love of crocheting and I must tell you that it has now turned into an addiction or an obsession.

I cannot go one single day without making SOMETHING......

I take my bag of yarn and hooks, etc. with me wherever I go.  Even if we are just going grocery shopping....only because ultimately we will make several unplanned stops for which I am left sitting in the car waiting for John.......L.C.B.O., Curries Art Store, etc.

So, I take my bag with me and crochet while we're driving along (feels like we get to our destination faster) and whenever we make a stop along the way.

I take my bag of goodies to the pool every day.......swim for a while....get out and crochet.....repeat.

We're usually at the pool from 1 o'clock until 3:30 and I can get a lot done in those couple of hours.
Addiction?  Obsession?  Love?

It's not only the act of crocheting, it's the yarns and the hooks and the patterns.
Not quite every day but close.....I go to Michaels, I go to Walmart and I shop online.
Yarns and Hooks and Patterns, oh my!

One day in early June, I googled " Crochet Baby Blankets", looking for some new pattern to make because I was tiring of granny squares.

It must have been the words "Crochet and Baby" that prompted a picture of one of the cutest, sweetest baby booties I had ever seen!

I clicked on the picture and there they were!  I had stumbled by mistake onto my next crochet addiction/obsession/love: making baby booties, hats, beanies and diaper covers!  It was love at first sight!

The site I had stumbled on was a place called "Etsy.com"......I'd never heard of Etsy but boy I sure know it well now.

It's an online shopping EXTRAVAGANZA..........BEWARE my friends, it is addictive but just wonderful.  Similar to eBay but better because you don't have to bid on anything....you just buy!

The patterns for the all of booties were created by a woman named Elizabeth Alan, an air force wife from Tennessee, living in Maryland with her husband and 6 children.  SIX?  Yes six, five girls and one boy.

I loved her story and I ADORED her patterns.  I immediately ordered one of her bootie patterns.  She emailed it to me and I instantly started to make the bootie and it was so well written I was amazed!  I'd never made anything closely resembling anything like a bootie and within 25 minutes I held this gorgeous little thing in my hand and held it up to the sky and said "Kunta Kinte".......well no, to be honest, I didn't hold it up to the sky and say that, but I sure had a HUGE smile on my face........and was totally addicted/obsessed/in love with these tiny little shoes.

Baby Ribbon Mary Janes!

Next day, I ordered another one of her patterns and the next another and so on.  Elizabeth and I emailed back and forth whenever I had any problem with the pattern....even the tiniest problem and she was there within minutes.  Not that the patterns were a a problem, just me doing things wrong.  She has the patience of a saint!

All I could think was "how can this woman have 6 young children and be there for me whenever I need her?"  If she took like 2 hours to reply, she apologized for taking so long!  Imagine! What a wonderful woman!

As I would finish a pair of booties, I would post them on Facebook and the reaction from my friends was  immediate and overwhelming......everyone commented and just raved about them!

I couldn't get over how beautiful they were and that other people thought so too....I was thrilled......

.....and becoming more obsessed/addicted/in love with crocheting........

Where would all this lead?  Stay tuned............


Oh yes, and I must let you know that Elizabeth's pattern shop on Etsy is here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ebethalan

Take a visit, you'll fall in love!

See you soon..............♡