A couple of weeks ago, my Sunbeam mixer stopped working just as I was making my congo bars to take up to the quilt day in Bridgewater (fortunately, I have a small hand mixer too).  My mixer is old, and has died and been brought back to life before.  I was starting to think new mixer but that is not what the guys were thinking.  Here are Jim and Sam trying to revive my mixer -

                

               

And here it is in pieces -

                

                

sigh . . . It is still in pieces.  It needs some new part.  However, it is at least contained out of the way to the side of my counter.  I told the guys no congo bars until they fix it . . . .or declare it totaled!

In other news, my mother is declining quite rapidly.  She had another infection last week, and that seems to have cleared up now, but she is weak and losing more ground every day.  She doesn't seem to have any specific medical issues right now, and so, the therapists and staff are trying to get her moving again.  I was there yesterday when the OT was working with her, and all she could do was try to get her to sit up on the side of the bed.  3 minutes, and then her BP took a dive, and so right now the plan is to increase the amt of time she can sit upright.  She needs to be fed now, where even last week she was feeding herself.

Oh, my goodness, having this happen, so quickly but so slowly, is so sad.  I kept thinking to myself yesterday that if my father were alive to see this, it would kill him.

Decisions, decisions.  Give up the apt at assisted living?  Keep it to try to motivate her and keep her hopeful?  She has used up 1/3 of her Medicare days at rehab now.  I'm giving it until the end of the month.  Jim says we'll know by then.  And I have asked for a meeting of the rehab staff for next week to see what they think and what their plans include.

Meanwhile, the OT who is seeing her is a sweet, delightful young woman.  She is perky and upbeat and exactly what my mother needs right now!  The rehab staff have all been wonderful.

But the whole thing is very sad.

I just got home from a wonderful few days in Pigeon Forge, TN, where I went to a quilt festival.  Actually, my friend, Sheila and I spent most of our time in her time-share condo sewing - the truth is, we spent lots of time cutting out fabric in preparation for sewing!

More about all that in a minute.  But here is something exciting that happened - I thought it was exciting, anyway! - we were strolling around the quilt festival, when look what I happened upon!

                 

Wait - WHO DID IT SAY MADE THAT QUILT?

                 

                 

That's our xanga friend (and now my real-life friend), Julia!  What fun! - to go to Tennessee, to see a quilt made by a xanga friend from Mississippi, who I met in Virginia!

Sheila and I had a very nice place to stay and sew!  Here are some pictures of it -

                  

                  

And us there, sewing - here is Sheila -

                  

                  

                  

And me -

                  

                  

So many little pieces -

                  

                  

We ate at this restaurant one day for lunch -

                   

And we spent time at the quilt show!  Here are some of the quilts I snapped pictures of, with the name of the quilter underneath some -

                   

                   

                   

                   

                   

                    

                   

                   

                   

This next one was so cute, with Easter eggs under each flap -

                   

                   

We had such a nice time!

I am leaving in the morning to go to a quilt festival in TN!!  I am going with a good friend, who works with my husband and who I have been quilting with at various things for years.  We are going to see the festival, but we are planning to spend most of our time in the place we are staying just sewing and catching up on projects! 

3 + days of sewing. . . .I can only do this thanks to my husband, who is going to manage anything that goes on with my mother, and my daughter, who is going to babysit for Charlie for piano lessons tomorrow.

My mother, meanwhile, is not doing well - seems to be going downhill very quickly. 

I have packed more projects to finish than I can possibly do for this long weekend.  I guess I will decide when I get there what to work on!

Betsy bought me a new book while she was away over spring break - about Peter Falk - I'll be reading that when I'm not sewing!

I have had the most wonderful day!  I felt like I was in a "Disney World" of sorts for quilters!  I spent the day among the most creative and expert quilters who were the friendliest and nicest people, and among some of the most beautiful quilts I have ever seen!

I was invited to join Polly and Julia and their sisters and other family and friends for the day during their annual sewing week that is set aside for "Guest Day!"  I have been friends with both of them and with Julia's daughter-in-law Sheila via xanga for awhile now.  Polly and I have been xanga friends for longer than I have blogged with the others, and I was always hoping to meet her sometime when she visited her family in the area where she grew up, about 2 hours' drive north of me.  This is the family that had the exhibit on Five Generations of Mennonite Quilters at the Virginia Quilt Museum several months ago.

So, today was the day!  What a joy it was to meet Polly and have her introduce me to everyone and show me around.

Here we are - Polly, me, Sheila, and Julia -

            

I loved visiting with them!

            

             

Here Polly is talking to a friend who she hadn't seen in a very long time -

           

Another sister, Barbara -

           

Sheila was making a basket -

           

This is a corn husk doll that Sheila was recently given -

           

More baskets being made -

           

            

Polly's mother -

          

And here are some shots around the room with people sewing, chatting, and visiting, and some of the quilts that were finished this week -

           

           

           

           

           

          

Those are my Grandmother's Flower Garden pieces they are holding up!

And there are still more!

          

         

         

         

         

         

         

Here are some that Polly made - you can see her snowflake in this one -

         

And another one of Polly's -

       

I think that's all I have pictures of - you can see more on both Polly's and Julia's sites.  I had such a nice time.  It was so much fun for me to spend the day with such a special group of friends and sisters in the Lord!

         

This is a scene we didn't think we would see in our little area of Virginia this year!  Our first real snowfall!  This is the view from my back deck -

                                            

                                     

                                     

And this is Betsy's car, getting covered up in the driveway while she is on spring break in LA!!

                                     

I took a couple of pictures of the handwork I have been doing lately.   The lap afghan for my mother is about 10" from being finished -

                                     

You can't really tell, but it is a blue and white mix.   Then there is my smocking practice piece -

                                     

On Friday night, Kip, Joan, and Joshua came over to give Jim a belated birthday present!

                                     

He loves bow ties and wears one almost every day to work (obviously not with that shirt!!)

So, here we all are - Joan - cutting the pie they brought -

                                       

Kip - Jim's brother, can you tell?

                                     

Josh -

                                     

My friend, Gina, who came home with me from Deaf Chat Coffee that night to visit with us -

                                      

Me -

                                     

And the pie -

                                     

We all joked about the snowman plates that Joan brought - we thought that was the only snow we would see this year!  On the plates! 

But, we have a couple of inches of snow right now and it is still snowing!

Nothing too exciting to write about here - just thought I'd give a mid-week update.

My mother is doing very well in the rehab/nursing home.  Just got out of her room today to go to the PT and OT dept.  No pain, and she seems motivated to be getting therapy.

I have been invited to join a couple of "sit and stitch" groups.  One of them meets twice a month, once on a Monday night, and once on a Tuesday night.  I can only make the Tuesday night times, and it was tonight!  We meet at a local coffee shop, and just chat and stitch on whatever each one wants to bring.  Some were quilting, some knitting, and my friend, Ruth, and I were practicing our smocking.  It was a lot of fun! 

I'll show pictures of both my smocking piece and the lap afghan I am knitting for my mother as soon as I get a little more done on each.

My little grandson, Charlie, has ear infections in both ears.  Poor thing does not feel well!

How did that last post get posted twice???  Sorry!

I am way too tired for this to be long, but I am so excited,  I had to write!  I have in my hand a blue laminated card with my name on it that says that I have achieved a Virginia Quality Assurance Screening from the VA Dept  for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of a Level I in transliterating!!!

That means that I did well on my test!!!  Level I is the lowest level, but it is still a level!!  And, the particularly good news to me is that my scores were better than I ever thought they would be!!  If it were not that my receptive, voicing skills were low, my scores would have achieved a Level II in transliterating and a Level I in interpreting.  I knew that my voicing skills were weak, but this means that my signing skills are pretty good.

Oh, my goodness, what a gift from God!   I have 3 years to take the test again and get a higher level.  I am soooo motivated! 

When I got the envelope out of the mailbox, I was so nervous that Betsy had to open it for me!!  We were both excited!  As long as I live I will never forget the words she said to me, "Mom, I am so proud of you!"

I am in tears here just thinking about it.  Happy tears!

And, tomorrow, I am spending all day at a sign language workshop called, "Behind the Scenes."  It is all about theatrical interpreting.

So many of you had prayed for me when I was preparing for the test and waited with me for the results.  Thank you!!!

I am way too tired for this to be long, but I am so excited,  I had to write!  I have in my hand a blue laminated card with my name on it that says that I have achieved a Virginia Quality Assurance Screening from the VA Dept  for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of a Level I in transliterating!!!

That means that I did well on my test!!!  Level I is the lowest level, but it is still a level!!  And, the particularly good news to me is that my scores were better than I ever thought they would be!!  If it were not that my receptive, voicing skills were low, my scores would have achieved a Level II in transliterating and a Level I in interpreting.  I knew that my voicing skills were weak, but this means that my signing skills are pretty good.

Oh, my goodness, what a gift from God!   I have 3 years to take the test again and get a higher level.  I am soooo motivated! 

When I got the envelope out of the mailbox, I was so nervous that Betsy had to open it for me!!  We were both excited!  As long as I live I will never forget the words she said to me, "Mom, I am so proud of you!"

I am in tears here just thinking about it.  Happy tears!

And, tomorrow, I am spending all day at a sign language workshop called, "Behind the Scenes."  It is all about theatrical interpreting.

So many of you had  prayed for me when I was preparing for the test and waited with me for the results.  Thank you!!!

I got a call this morning letting me know that my mother would be discharged later today.  That was quick, after the procedure was just done last night!

So, here was my day, minus all the minutes in between that it took me to drive everywhere:

- Go to the nursing home/rehab center and sign all the paperwork.  That took about an hour.
- Go to the assisted living apartment and pack up all the things she would need for an undetermined number of weeks.  That only took about 20 mins.
- Home for a quick lunch.
- Smocking class!  That was fun!
- On to the hospital.  I got there at 4.  I had tried to call ahead and see if they could get her ready to go, but couldn't get through.  So, when I got there, the dinner trays were just arriving and my mother was nowhere near ready to go.  She was, however, looking a lot better than she had been - didn't seem to be in any pain!
- 2 hours later, I finally got her in the car and on to the nursing home.
- Got her settled in her room.  That all took another hour.
- I got home at 7:30, ate some left-over soup that my brother-in-law had made for us earlier in the week - thank you, Kip!

Jim was operating almost all night, all day, and still isn't home.

But, things turned out better than I expected!  Praise the Lord!  This nursing home/rehab center has been all remodeled in the year since we last left there, and it all looks lovely!  The staff seems friendlier and more efficient than any other time I have ever taken a parent to one before, including this one.  The physical therapist who my mother had both of the times she was there before, and who, prior to her job there, was my therapist 4 years ago at a private PT office when I had my first shoulder surgery, is going to be her PT again.  The nursing assistants remembered her and were happy and joking with her and went out of their way to make her feel good to be there.  I am sooooo thankful! 

I have a headache.  I took my high-powered pain meds and I plan to sit and knit on that lap afghan that obviously didn't get done in time for today, but shouldn't take too much longer.