Little things make me happy!

Last fall sometime I saw fish spatulas being used on one of the PBS cooking shows, probably America's Test Kitchen, and began the hunt to own some.  When I was in Denver last fall my sister-in-law and I went shopping for them and found them at Crate and Barrel, I think.  She may have thought me insane I was so focused on having these-

BUT. . .these are the best spatulas I have ever owned!  They are thin so they slide under over-easy eggs or pancakes, the curve on the end makes flipping things easy!  I can't recommend them highly enough if you need a new spatula!  These are OXO Good grips and I think they were $12 each.

Small thing, Gail happy!

Electronics everywhere!

On my last trip to St Louis I left the charging base to my electric toothbrush behind.  I'm not sure how that happened but it did.  The toothbrush was wearing out so I ordered a new one.  This one

Then I had to spend several minutes (like 20) with that booklet on the left setting up the electronics in it!  It "talks" to a Smart Guide mounted on the wall.  Jeeze, if I'd known that I might not have bought this one!  At my age I don't think I need stars for brushing my teeth!  On the bright side it does a whiz-bang job of getting the teeth clean!  I mounted the gizmo on the inside of a door so I don't have to look at it, then when it runs out of battery juice I won't replace them.  

This is right up there with the iron I had to read the instruction book for!  

If it's not one thing. . .

I was text chatting with my oldest son this evening and he said Nora might have a broken arm.  Turns out she fell at a birthday party and they were at urgent care having it looked at!  Sure enough, it's broken!  The swelling must go down before they can cast it so she splinted at the moment-I'm anxious to see if she picks a pink cast or a purple one!

Soccer season started today, no one got hurt.  Brayden and Kolby both crushed their opponents, Ethan  (who plays soccer ALL the time and has for a couple of years) refused to play!  It was a lovely spring day and we had a great time cheering them on!

Spring is all around! As you can see I still have leaves to deal with!

As for me--I finished the little houses quilt top!  Very wonky in places but I kind of like it.  Bri says it reminds her of the cottages in Ireland, I can see that.  It is plenty long as it is and wide enough for a full bed so no borders for it!  I'm thinking I'll put flannel on the back, maybe red, but I've no clue how I'll bind it.  I haven't any of the red left,  not enough of the blue spotty stuff, and all the houses are from scraps so I can't even make scrappy binding!  Any ideas?

Deep Breathing.

We have all taken a deep breath.  Ryan went to surgery sleeping on his tummy.  I think 7 hours later he came out.  While they were unable to close the gap today he will not have to be paralyzed (by medication) and intubated as they did a modification to the procedure.  He will "Grow" his esophagus for a week or perhaps a bit longer before they attach the two pieces.  It will all go much faster than we had been told was usual.  I would have been really excited if they'd closed the gap but this is so much better than the original plan.  Next the closure surgery!

Ryan's Surgery

In a bit over 9 hours, at 7:45 Eastern time, Ryan will have surgery.  It is expected to take most of the day.  The Doctor will decide in surgery whether the gap can be closed now or if they will have to grow his esophagus.  I don't remember being this nervous since Scott's heart rate went off the bottom of the monitor!  I believe with every fiber of my being that Ryan will be just fine-perfect in fact-when the surgery is over, still he's a baby.

I'd ask you all to think of them (and the rest of us) tomorrow.  Thanks.

I've been busy? Tired? Lazy?

Wow, it's been a week since I last posted!  Really falling away from that goal of every day, I'll try that again now.

Last week, as you know, I spent 3 days raking leaves (28 bags total) and 2 afternoons working at the garage (still much more to do there).  Made myself terribly sore and very tired.

I got my sewing machine back on Saturday!  So far I've finished one more row of Little houses, only three left and I will be ready to sew the top.  Then I'll Have to decide if it needs a border--I kind of like it the way it is.  If it needs to be bigger though then I'll have to border it and buy backing.  Maybe I can have it to Robin (My LAQ) by the end of the month.

This week I have had the big boys (Brayden and Kolby) part of the time for their spring break.
Monday, it was around 80F and we set out on a bike ride at Longview Lake.   We drove and drove to find a parking lot with access-most of the roads into the lake were gated and locked.  We went about a half a mile when playground equipment called the boys to play!

In all we rode about three miles.  Less than we planned because the wind was just brutal.  Brayden wanted me to ride in front at one point-I told him I'd leave him in the dust and not even know it!  It was slow and go but we had fun and I got a workout loading and unloading the bikes!

Today, it is 45F and raining.  Just have to love the weather in Missouri.  Really though we needed the rain and this has been a slow soaker instead of a rain so hard it bounces and runs off day.  We took Mommy out to lunch and then we made "Cookie Cakes" (chocolate chip cookies spread unto pizza pans.)

Friday, I'm going to take them to Science City and the Planetarium.  So we've been busy.

I've saved the last for best.

Scott, Bri and Ryan went to Boston yesterday.  Scott flew commercial and arrived first, checked into their TINY room and waited for Bri and Ryan who flew in a private Medivac plane.  Ryan was, as usual, a rock star and slept the whole way!  He is not crazy about the new hospital as he doesn't have a private room any more and there are babies crying a lot.

Today brought the best news!  His gap is only 1.5-2 cm!  Mom and Dad believed it to be at least 4cm!  This smaller gap might make it unnecessary to "Grow" his esophagus! And if it is still required then the length of time required will be much shorter!  Again, Ryan is a ROCK STAR!  I think champagne is called for!

Outdoor Cleaning

In celebration of the lovely warm windless weather we are having here I began spring cleanup-outside.  15 bags of leaves later I have the front yard finished, whew!  Tomorrow, I'll be taking a break from that to rest my sore, aged body.  How I long for a Jacuzzi tub! I should finish leaves on Friday-I'm only cleaning up the really heavy leaf debris in the back as the rest can be mowed.  Maybe three more bags.  I'm going to have a lot of trash to set out on Monday!  (For Ann and anyone else overseas-we are not allowed to burn leaves here and in Missouri it is illegal to put them in the land fill so yard waste must go into large brown paper bags (biodegradable) and taken elsewhere.  The trash company has a separate truck for it Mar to Dec.)

When I finish the leaves I'm going to clean out the garage and the truck.  Leaving the sand bags in my truck another couple of weeks though and Hank the snow thrower, who hasn't been used this winter, out of the shed a bit longer.  (Hank has to have the gas run out of him before I can store him.)  I'll get out the white chairs for the front garden but the rest of the seasonal furniture is going to wait until April.

Called the Sewing machine repair store today and the tech was working on it then maybe I'll get it back tomorrow.  I hope.

Spring may have sprung!

Yesterday and today have been perfect shirtsleeve spring days! Walks in the park have been taken, Quinn has been brushed outside! The patio door is open-Quinn loves this as she can come and go as she chooses. This coming week is forecast to be the same-with temperatures edging up towards short sleeve days.  Last week snow, this week warm.  Gotta love the weather on the great plains!  The neighbors have been out raking leaves and I should have been but silly me took a shower first thing and didn't want to take another, sigh.  Leaves are on the agenda for Wednesday-I am tired of picking them up in the house.  Quinn drags them in stuck in her fur.  It's an ongoing battle when you own a long-haired outdoor loving dog.

The new dryer arrived yesterday and was installed so I decided to do laundry today-breaking my always on Monday routine as I won't be at home much of tomorrow.  I have Quilt Guild in the morning and an eye appointment in the afternoon.  I won't be worth much after the eye appointment until the dilation wears off.

I am still suffering from the lack of a sewing machine, sigh.  Really hoping Jane is ready to be picked up soon.  Then I will leave Edna--super hoping the tech can fix her then I will have two electric machines.  I have a couple of parts to replace on Grace the treadle-will try to order them this week.  Everyone says to use two feet treading but I go backwards when I do that-hope I can learn to do it with my left foot so I get even exercise right now its right foot all the way, :)

Quinn and I are off the Rob and Tanya's for dinner.  I love this Sunday rotation we've got going!

The week of wrong things

This week has been the week of things going wrong!  Some of it has been coming on and I just forgot in between-oops.

I do laundry on Mondays.  Except for a short time I have always done laundry and changed the sheets on Monday.  I do at most 3 loads of laundry.  Sometimes I wonder at the need for a washer and dryer!  This past Monday the floor drain in the laundry backed up -you guessed it, water all over the floor.  The drains in the floor don't have enough fall to them so they back up from time to time, this has happened enough in the past that I have a motorized snake!  So I schlepped through the standing water to get the snake, removed the rubber safety mats to the great outdoors, and ran the snake down the drain.  It didn't have to go far and swoosh all the water went down!  But oh, boy it left a mess behind.  I left the floor to dry out overnight and then cleaned that up yesterday.  Also on Monday and also relating to laundry, I took the wet clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer pushed the "ON " button AND NOTHING HAPPENED, sigh.  This had maybe been coming on for a couple of weeks as the machine was making a clomping noise creating the "I must call the repair man" thought which was promptly forgotten before it got written down.  Again, 3 loads of laundry a week doesn't bring the thought up very often.  So the repair man will be coming on Friday. I have clothes drying all over the place-thanks goodness I decided NOT to change the sheets as I don't know where I'd have put them to dry!

The third thing involves my truck.  For a couple of years the brakes have been acting up-hesitating when I am nearly stopped and scaring me.  I've had it looked at a couple of times and no one could tell me what was wrong-not even the dealership!  While I was in St Louis, on the 7th floor of the parking garage, there was at least one time when I truly did not think the truck was going to stop and it made a horrid noise.  Tuesday I called yet another auto repair shop, took in to them, rented a car etc.  They called today and they actually know what is wrong!  It will be ready for me to pick up tomorrow-somewhat pricey but the peace of mind will be worth it.  Turns out both ABS sensors in the front end were back, the rotors rusted (causing the sensors to go bad) and there are a couple of other things they are doing while they have it.

While not a necessarily bad thing I have also had an appointment or event every day this week!  That is really unusual.  There are many weeks when Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday I don't leave the house. (At least not this time of the year as I can't ride by bike!  Yet another thing that needs a tune up!)

The hardest thing for me to deal with though has been the lack of a sewing machine!  Jane won't come home until next week.  I'm not sure I'll survive!