Daffy-Dils

can you believe it? it's january and my crazy daffodils are up about an inch or more. i tried to talk some sense into them and tell them it's still winter and they should go back to bed, but they aren't listening. and now they are being a bad influence on the daylilies.

adventures in brain surgery

as i promised, here is last week in a nutshell. my mom had not been feeling well for quite some time and her doctor was of little or no help. so, she changed doctors and they did a catscan and found fluid on her brain. amazingly, he said it was also on the catscan the other doctor did in 2002 and had said it was fine (grrr).
anyway, we got her into the hospital last monday night, and they did tests on tuesday and on wednesday, they drilled a hole in her head and put in a shunt and a valve that will open whenever the pressure builds up. the fluid will drain back into her body and be absorbed. i know it sounds weird(sorry if i gross anybody out), but it was so interesting to see what they can do and what a difference it can make. she even came home on friday. she is still recovering, but has already made great progress. she can walk without assistance unless she gets too tired, she's eating again, and she can read and concentrate better. the valve will take some adjusting, but, she's getting back to being mom. and she's well enough now for us to start giving her a hard time and making light of it (ok, making fun of her). but, it's what our family does. like my cousin says, "she needs us like she needs a hole in her head".

Meet our Daughter

i previously posted a picture of our son, but we didn't have a recent pic of Casey, so we cornered her last week and took a couple of quick snapshots before she could get away.
like i said, her name is Casey, she's 25 and she's "fabulous". just ask her, she'll tell you it's true. LOL!!
she lives in Bloomington, about 45 minutes north of us. she has 3 spoiled cats and a thing for chinese food and Bob Dylan. and she's taken up crochet, too. she likes to make scarves.
well, enough chatter. here for your viewing pleasure, the fabulous Casey!!!

next time, i'll tell you of our adventures in brain surgery this week.

Dreamsicle Dog

check out the precious sweater Alisha "chiscrochetcrazy" sent to my weinerdog. it's the cutest peachy-orange and yellow variagated cotton that won't itch deedee's skin. deedee has synthetic issues and she has to wear shirts to keep from scratching. this is just the sweetest thing. thanks bunches, Alisha!!
BIG HUG!!!


"don't hate me because i'm beautiful."


"my belly is cute, too."

a lovely saturday

i'd had a pretty stressful past week, so on saturday, my husband (Pete) took me on a surprise date. first he took me to the greenhouse at Indiana University. i've always wanted to see what was inside there. he had done a job there recently and found out that it is open to the public and what the hours were. we wandered from room to room. the desert, the tropics, the houseplants, etc. . huge cacti, palms, ferns, orchids and spanish moss hanging on trees, a papaya tree with fruit, lemon trees hanging with lemons. and the smells. it was like walking straight into summer.
then he took me to "cheeseburger in paradise". a very jimmy buffet type burger joint. lots of atmosphere and burgers so big, there was no way i could down one. so i ordered popcorn shrimp and fries. i couldn't believe how much they brought. i finished the shrimp(the most important part of a balanced...anything!) and most of the fries. next time, we'll share an order of fries. that was a bunch of food!!
after lunch, we went over to the mall and waddled around and did nothing for awhile. what a wonderful change of pace. nowhere to be, nobody wanting anything, no phone calls(left the cell at home. hehehe).
all to soon, it was time to come back to the real world. but it was the best day i'd had in....way too long. and now i know that i can take my mom back to the university to show her all the wonderful things they have. i might wait till the middle of a cold, dreary spell when the summer sensations would be most welcome to us both.
and now, back to my regularly scheduled life.

Grandmother's flowergarden baby blanket finished

i finished the Grandmother's flowergarden baby blanket for my friend's granddaughter-to-be. i used 123 hexes. i made a little hat to match, but it didn't quite get in the picture. i was going to jump right in and make a bedspread sized one for our bed, but i think i'm gonna do some other, smaller, things for awhile. i've seen enough hexes for now. i'm going to work on my 25 things for charity, and my UFO CAL.

and this lump in the covers of the bed is my mini weinerdog, deedee. she gets out of bed when she gets darn good and ready.

garden time isn't far away

i know, i know. it's winter. but i start looking for signs of spring as soon as the first day of winter. i've started getting my seed catalogs in the mail, and walmart has their racks of seed packets out. i know not everybody sees the excitement in this, but we garden junkies see it as a ray of hope. and my husband keeps reminding me that the days are getting longer. i start my greenhouse up in later february and early march so the plants will be ready for farmers market in mid may. i sell mostly herb plants and lesser known novelty plants just for fun.
and, in case anyone is counting(and i am), there are just 75 days till spring!!

charity crochet

i've joined the 25 things for charity gang and am going to do my best to help as much as i can. i think 25 is do-able for me. i've already got 5 scarves for red scarf project ready to mail, 2 chemo caps and 8 warm hats that i need a place to send them to. and i'm working on a lapghan and some dishcloths for the afghans for amigoes. i want to check out the project linus site to see what it's about. afghans take me soooo long that i'd rather stick to small things. a bed sized one would never get done in time.