Well, just a few hours!

The BCS is on in 6 hours. Go Bama!

And....hopefully by this time tomorrow I will be out of surgery.

Too much in two days...............

GOOD BYE, MY RED FRIENDS! FOR AWHILE, ANYWAY

I bit my fingernails as a child. Always embarrassed me, but it was a hard-to-break habit.  My mother used to put this pepper-flavored polish on my nails to stop the biting. Didn't work.   After I lost the dreaded habit, I was left with some very soft fingernails. Then the big discovery: nail tips. Voila!

I had worn them for years and then, lo and behold, I had grown a beautiful set of nails underneath the tips. So....bye bye to nail tips, hello natural nails. And overlays because they were so soft.

I've always been partial to red nails, especially if they were well-manicured and long. Being a musician, long wasn't an option. Okay. As an organist, mine could be a little longer. The fingering is so different than a pianist's, so they really were no problem.

Well, three months ago I did the number on the shoulder.The nice part was that I could finally grow the LONG nails I've always wanted. And they could be red. Or blue. Or fushia. But mostly red. And they were wonderful. Still are. Don't get in the way of my stitching and knitting. Or my cooking. Not a bit inconvenient.

I lost the red today. Since I can't have a color on my nails because of the surgery on Tuesday, I came home with a French manicure. Had them before, but I just love my red nails. I actually like a FM, but damn, I love those red puppies!

So for the next couple of weeks, I'll be a la naturelle. Not such a bad trade off. I'll have a fixed shoulder, which will make manicures less painful (it has been dreadful) and my red nails will return soon enough.

My favorite reds? OPI, of course!  I'm Not Really A Waitress.  OPI Red.  Friar, Friar Pants on Fire. I Don't Do Dishes........ My favorite was China Blossom, but the OPI guys don't make it any more. And Cheyenne Pepper was a favorite, now gone, too.

I do love me some red nails. Wonder if it has anything to do with my Crimson Tide? They are gonna roll all over Notre Dame next Monday night----which will be a great lead in into 9AM Tuesday morning!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We are now twelve hours away from a brand new year. Have a great one, all of you. And I'll see you next year (boy, is that an old one!).

Gonna finish some cleaning, cook the black-eyed peas. Then to settle down to some football and let time pass into a new beginning.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

WHAT A THREE MONTHS!

Three months since my last post! What an interesting time!

As I said in September, I took a tumble and ended up with a broken shoulder. Major pain and so many things I couldn't -and still can't- do. Including play the piano or organ.

We had to wait until the bone healed for an MRI. Or so we thought. On December 5th, I had the MRI. All Xanaxed up (claustrophobic,major time), I thought it would be a breeze. Not so. The tech put the cuff on my shoulder and I ended up crying through the whole thing because it was SO painful. Even through two babies, gallbladder, root canals, etc., I've never had pain like that.

We went back the 9th for the result. The bone (great tuberosity)  is not healing and a tendon or two are torn. Can't pronounce that. Well, on Jan. 8th at 9 AM I'm going to surgery. Dr. Rodriguez is going to pin the bone in place (hey--I'm going to get screwed and not be awake to enjoy it!!!!! Sense of humor isn't broken!!!) and repair the rotator cuff. Jan. 8th was the first opening he had and I'll be able to enjoy watching my team in the BCS on the 7th.  ROLL TIDE!

What that means is that I'm going to have a lot more serious pain and 4-6 months of major rehab. I was fitted--yes, fitted-- for the sling a couple of weeks ago. Those of you who have had shoulder surgery know what it looks like. And we're back to showers, with DH drying me and dressing me. No cutting my food. Lots of books and movies. And I will be able to stitch and knit because there will be no movement of the shoulder.

I don't know how long it will be before I can drive. The idea is to keep the shoulder completely still except for rehab. I've been through something like this for 3 months, so I can go a little longer. Just on a larger size.

I've gone through stages. Even a major crying one. Now I'm in the off and on anger stage and just anxious to get it over with. I understand that I probably will wake up with a painkilling lifeline in for a few days. I have moments of feeling sorry for myself and then things fall back into place.

Thank God it's just a broken shoulder and surgery. Thank God I'm not one of those parents in Newtown, Connecticut that had to bury a child. Thank God that I'm safe and warm here and have everything I need. Everything happens for a reason. It could be so much worse. So now I'm still on an extended vacation, but I'm alive.

All prayers are appreciated, especially for poor David. He's going to be my major caregiver for quite awhile and that ain't an easy job. I've discovered that in the last three months. At least there will be more blogging. One-handed!

So you guys out there, pray for us. And for all those who are not so lucky. I'll check in again before the Big Day.

CRASH! BANG! FEELING SORRY FOR MYSELF TODAY

 Last Wednesday I was crossing the parking lot, going into church, when I tripped and fell. Mortification beyond belief. Off I went to hospital in an ambulance. This being LSU territory, the EMT told me that the highlight of his day was cutting off my Alabama shirt. And being on church property, I bit my tongue and told him to kiss my grits.

I fractured my shoulder! I'm off the organ bench for 8-12 weeks and hopefully won't need surgery: repair and/or rotator cuff. There is no cast-can't cast the shoulder-but a pretty blue sling and a ton of pillows on the bed to prop me up.

So today is my down day. Spent most of the afternoon in bed reading or sleeping. Luckily I can still stitch, but today wasn't a stitchy day. My bottom lip was touching my knee.

John and his family came over from Houston this weekend-checking on mom, I think. We went out to LSU Saturday morning-probably not the smartest thing for me to do. Then we came back to the house and watched football. I was so tuckered out that I slept through the first half of the Alabama game. Made it through the LSU-Auburn game, though.

Made some cools snaps. Here they are:

Breakfast on Saturday morning. John, David and Laura. David did the cooking and cleaning this weekend.

The kids have two dogs: Marley and Libby. They stay in a large crate when they visit us because Linzie isn't too social. Ann got in the crate Saturday and fell asleep against Marley.

Bradley, Ann and Grace at LSU, visiting Mike the Tiger. This is the iron one. The real one was sleeping in the shade.

We are a divided family. John graduated from LSU and Michael from Alabama. Here's Michael and Meghan and Michael is espressing his feelings for LSU. Yes, they are there!

Linzie kept her cool during the LSU game!

So that's life here right now. I've decided to get up in the morning with a whole new outlook. I'm glad-that of all things that could have happened-this was the easiest. If my head had hit the concrete I might have shattered the concrete!!

NEVER FORGET

WE MADE IT!

Thanks to so many prayers  and great help, we have come through Hurricane Isaac. Parts of Mississippi and Louisiana did not fare as well. They are still faced with terrible flooding and other problems associated with hurricanes. There is the possibility of a dam breaking in Mississippi and a levee in Plaquemines Parish (we don't have counties here) was deliberately breached to help with flooding.

Here at the old homestead we never lost electricity--over 600,000 homes in Louisiana did. We do have a messy backyard: several trees went down along with a lot of tree trash. That's  such a small price to pay for the safety we had.

I ventured out to the grocery yesterday and there wasn't too much damage on this end of town. In other parts of Baton Rouge there was some pretty bad damage. The electricity is out at my church, so I don't know about services on Sunday. Going to make a run to Hobby Lobby today.

Thank you all again for your prayers and kind thoughts. We made it okay.

It's almost noon and we still have electricity, although it's out in other parts of the city.It's terrible outside, but I'd rather this be happening during the day than at night.

This storm is moving slowly, which is not good. And it's shifted enough that Baton Rouge is now to the east of the storm. Never, ever, be to the east, so needless to say, it's going to get much worse.

He came ashore twice!!!, can you believe? Plaquemines Parish has had a bad hit. The levees held, but were overtopped. National Guard in in there now removing the dummies who didn't choose to evacuate.

If you have the Weather Channel where you live, you can keep up with us and see some of the damage. The winds are terrifying and we've already had one tree go down in the backyard.

I dread tonight.

NOT WAITING ANY MORE.

He's just down the street. It's 6:15 AM and we're up listening to the wind. We still have power, but it will go away soon. It's still a hurricane and is powerful.

Today is the anniversary of Katrina and now we add Isaac to the total.

The levees in Plaquemines Parish--where it came ashore THE FIRST TIME held but overflowed, so there has been pretty good destruction there.

Don't know how long we'll be without power, but it was several days after Gustav. Right now it's still dark outside, but I can really hear the wind.

Please pray for us.

BULL'S EYE

http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker/2012/isaac

This is what is known as a "bull's eye" and it's coming right at us. He should pay us a visit Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Right now he's a tropical storm---which is bad enough--but will be a hurricane when he hits us. Cat 1 or maybe Cat 2, both which are rough, but not nearly as bad as Katrina, which was a Cat 5.

There's a general joke that where Jim Cantore (The Weather Channel) is, is the storm.. He's in New Orleans right now, which is 60 miles from us. If Isaac comes directly up the Mississippi, we are in big trouble. And if he shifts and hits to the west of us, we are in deep caca. Never be on the eastern side of a hurricane. Anyway, we've survived Katrina, Rita, Ike and Gustav. This, hopefully, will be a piece of cake. A soggy one, but fairly easy to manage--if that's possible.

Go easy on us, Isaac and Jim (he is such a hunk that he can keep one's mind in another direction!).

SITTING HERE JUST WAITING.......

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/

Here we go! Would you believe Isaac is supposed to land on the anniversary of Katrina?

We've made the trip for supplies--except for gasoline. The line was so long David decided to wait until tomorrow. May not be the smartest move.  All the gas may be gone by tomorrow.

The governor has declared a state of emergency-actually the governors of Alabama, Mississipp and Louisiana. State offices are closed. A lot of people in this area are in Tampa for the convention. Hope they make it home okay.

So now we just sit and wait. That may be the worse part. Maybe.

ADDING TO THE SCARF COLLECTION

I do love my scarves! I buy them or knit them. Love all the pretty colors and love making them. Here's three I've  finished over the past couple of months:

Believe it or not, this is meant to be a necklace. It's knitted by a pattern I found on the Internet and is made of wool variegated yarn from Hobby Lobby.

I found this  on the Internet, also. It's made from an Italian yarn--don't remember the name!--but the pattern came with the yarn. It's one of those specialty ruffle yarns. Love working on them.  This caught my eye because the colors were so unusual. It was called "English Garden". Wouldn't you know!!

This is my favorite. I ordered the pattern from the Internet and it was a breeze to knit. Size 9 needles, Simply Soft by Caron. It can be worn any number of ways and the rose is a pin-knitted separately from the scarf. I love the soft pink color. It's the first time I've ever used provisional cast on. Very easy!

I'm still working on some other projects like these. It's so warm down here that sweaters are a bit useless. I'm going to try some fingerless mittens and some cute hat patterns I've found.

Busy fingers always!!

GREAT VISIT AND GREAT RECIPE.....

My family from Houston were here last weekend and it was a great visit. The kids are growing so fast--Bradley is 15 today and will soon have his learner's permit. The girls are so cute (and smart, of course).

A highlight of the visit was getting to cook. I made a great casserole for lunch on Saturday along with Scott's Firehouse Cornbread, but the big hit was for breakfast on Saturday morning: Cinnamon French Toast Bake. It's here, along with photos, of course.

Everyone is sitting in the den--each with a gizmo. Ann is in the chair and John and Laura are on the love seat. You can't see Bradley. He's just to the right.

Linzie, of course, sitting in my lap. True lap rat.

The kids at breakfast: Grace, Bradley and Ann. And here is the recipe:

CINNAMON TOAST BAKE

1/4 C. butter, melted
2- 12.4 oz . cans Pillsbury Refrigerated Cinnamon Rolls with Icing
6 eggs
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. chopped pecans (I used walnuts. Like them better)
1 C. maple syrup

Garnish:
Icing from cinnamon rolls
powdered sugar
1/2 C maple syrup, if desired

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Pour melted butter into ungreased 13x9 glass baking dish.  Separate both cans of dough into 16 rolls: set icing aside.

Cut each roll into 8 pieces.  Place pieces over butter in baking dish

In medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in cream, cinnamon and vanilla until well blended. Gently pour over roll pieces. Sprinkle with nuts. Drizzle with 1 C. syrup.

Bake at 375 for 20-28 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove covers from icing. Microwave on 50% for 10-15 seconds or until drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. If desired, spoon syrup from dish over individual servings.  Serve with additional 1/2 C. syrup (heated a little).

MY GRANDKIDS ARE COMING,

My kids are all coming this weekend,

so I whipped up this little goody for them. Last year I made them a Halloween table runner, so this matches it perfectly.  Now, what for next year????

So, for a month I've had this crud that everyone down here gets. Prednisone, celestone.....nothing worked. Now I have a great bacterial bronchial infection. Since I don't always do very well with antibiotics, I'm on Amoxicillin.  And of course, Acidophilus to prevent that other thing that comes along with it. I don't feel really bad: just tired.

I will enjoy the weekend, though, because all the family will be here. Plus I get to cook!

COMING ALONG NICELY!

I'm thoroughly enjoying Anniversaries of the Heart. It's just moving right on along. I've finished a couple of months, so here are some pictures. Since I've taken them, I've finished another month and started October-my month.

 This is May, which is Michael's birth month. Also my mother (yes, I share her name). And my great grandfather. I added some marine thingys for Michael and the year he graduated from Alabama. May's flower and birthstone are there, too, just a little more difficult to see. Michael's cat, Tommy, has made an appearance.

January is my Dad's and his twin brother Merrill's birth month. David's Grandmother Harden was also born in January. Epiphany is also in January, which marks the day King Cake appears here in Louisiana! I have finished February, which you can see a portion of next to January. The little initials and dates I put there the days those ladies left us.

I have discovered-after removing a lot of stitches to make room- that I should put the main dates in as I work on a  month. There's still a little room in January, so I can add something else if I think of it.

I've found a piece of my family tartan, so I'm planning on using  it somewhere. And some lace and pearls from my wedding gown. There are lots of scraps of memories around here that may find their way on to my  work.

Yep. This one is worth the time and money.

MYSTERY SOLVED---SORT OF!

Not five minutes after my post followed through on Facebook, my phone rang. It was my dear cousin, Joanne Romanek. This voice says "I can tell you about the scarf".

Whoa-----this dear person just buried her beloved Joe yesterday morning and now she's taking the time to call and tell me about this little scrap of wool.

The conversation lasted maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I can't remember the story verbatim, but it seems Mrs. George Wilson isn't my grandmother Etta. She was Judy Wilson and was related to Joanne on her mother's side of the family (my mother and Joanne's father were siblings). It seems that Judy was the second wife of somebody along the way.

During WWII, I believe the story went, my mother and this Mrs. Judy stitched together at Northington Campus in Tuscaloosa. Mother knitted and Judy crocheted. They sold these things and the money was used to support the War. Joanne didn't know whether Mother bought the scarf or Judy made it a gift.

We had a laugh about the tag, because that's how Joanne knew who it was.It wasn't my grandmother's style.  This lady apparently sewed her tags into everything. Regardless, I'm grateful for this beautiful work of art-I offered to send it to Joanne- and now I know something about its history.

And a big thanks to someone who took time out on such a terrible day to share the story with me.

A FAMILY MYSTERY........

This week I was in a rare clean-out-the-drawers mood. I pulled out the drawer with some of my older scarves and here was this treasure.

Apparently it was in my mother's stuff and when I packed all it  away to move to Baton Rouge.  I really didn't play close attention. That was probably sometime in 1996-97. Since then I have a greater appreciation of old, hand made things, so when I saw it, it really got my attention.

This, I think, belonged to my grandmother. It is hand crocheted (?), I believe, with wool thread. Then it was apparently washed -deliberately or not- in hot water and, voila, a felted scarf. In the second photo, you can see some blue threads. Those must be courtesy of my camera because they aren't really in the scarf. Click on the photos to see how pretty it really is.

It's not very large. Just almost a shoulder cover. I can't wait until winter to wear it. I have a very old pin and earrings set that belong to my great aunt that will set it off well.

Here's the deal: the tag. It says "Mrs. George Wilson".  My grandfather was George Wilburn Wilson, but everyone called him Wilburn. I even remember my grandmother calling him Wilburn. So here is this label. It doesn't look very old- I guess- and I can't believe that my sweet, poor country grandmother would have bought these labels. My only other thought is that when she went into a nursing home, an aunt or other relative had these made and stitched them into her clothes. Then again, she was a widow by then, so why not just Etta Wilson?????

Whatever the story, I was so beside myself when I found this. It's very delicate and beautiful. I just wish I had found it sooner. There are so many family occasions I would love to have worn it to. It is now a treasured gift and I hope my granddaughters will treasure it as much as I.

THINKING OF THE PEOPLE IN AURORA

It was not good waking up to the news this morning. It always comes back to "WHY?".

This is such a sick world.

HOW ABOUT A GREAT RECIPE?

This is one I found on Pinterest and have  used several times.  It is delicious. And from now on I'm going to cook my pasta in stock, no matter what I'm cooking it for.

I don't know the author of the original recipe, but thanks a bunch, whomever you are.   Here goes:

CREAMY GARLIC PASTA

2 tsp olive oil      4 cloves garlic, minced      2Tbs butter          1/4 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
1/2 tsp pepper ( I use fresh ground)   3 C. chicken stock       1/2 lb. angel hair pasta
1 C, grated Parmesan cheese     2 Tsp. fresh chopped parsley        3/4 C. heavy cream

Bring olive oil to low heat. Add garlic and stir. Don't let it get too hot or it will jump out of the pan!! Cook a couple of minutes.

Mix in butter until melted. Add salt, pepper and chicken stock. Raise heat to high and let it come to a boil.

Add pasta and cook until al dente. Reduce heat to medium and add Parmesan. Stir until completely melted.

Turn off heat and stir in cream and parsley. Serve immediately.

This is good with a little chicken added. Shrimp, also.  And whatever is left, heats very well on low in a microwave.

It's great with a glass of Ruffino Orvieto, which is my favorite white wine.

VERY LONG TERM PROJECT

 When "Anniversaries of the Heart" first came out, I said "No way. It will take forever". Well, after seeing it in progress several times, I decided it was worth the time and money. I've been working on it for over a year and am finally seeing progress.

Excuse the lousy photos. I took them with my iphone.

These are the first two rows. I haven't started the last. Last night I decided to stretch the piece out to see the size and such. BOY! Is it big! I tea-dyed the fabric myself, so it is a little faded looking-deliberately!

I've been heavily into research and thanks to some cousins and my brother-in-law, the genealogy work is almost finished.

Here we go:

This is what has been done on January, February, May and June. I've finished May. It's Michael's month.  I added some fishy stuff because he is a Marine Biologist. And, of course, his graduation from Alabama..January is finished but for the dates and February, too. June is still hanging around. I'm adding some historical dates, as you can see. When you look closely at February, you can see some initials and dates. I was working on it the  the day my MIL and my SIL died, so I added them to the piece.

I found a pattern for July that I liked better (by the same designer) and since it's America's birthday, I subtracted some stitches to make it fit and came up with this. It was also an active month in my family, so I'm going to add dates as I go along. I found out that with May that might be a good idea!

This is a closer look at March and April. March is Laura's month, so the fleur de lis (she is an Hebert, too) is there and LSU. I just need to find out what year she graduated..April is John's month, so his dates will go there. Also it was the month the Titanic sank, so it will be there, too. Since they live in Texas, the date of the Alamo is ready to put into place.

So.....how much longer, who knows? It's the only cross stitch piece I'm working on right now and has pretty well taken over. I'm using the overdyes called for plus some I've added.

If you look closely at February, you can tell that my MIL died a year ago today. Maybe that explains all this work. I'm more aware of family and time now, and hope in the years to come, my family will enjoy this BIG piece of my life.