Hospitals

My husband finally decided to fix the hernia that's been nagging him for the last THREE YEARS! He finally made all of the appointments, and before we knew it he was scheduled for surgery. We thought it would all take at least a month. The whole process only took us two weeks. Just enough time for my hubby to get really anxious, but not enough time to adjust to the idea and calm back down.

Well, since this is the biggest thing my husband has ever had to do medically (previously, he's only ever had stitches), he asked me to stay there at the hospital with him. I wasn't surprised by this, and was happy to do it for him. The original plan was to get him to the hospital, and while we was going through the surgery, I'd run our daughter to school and be back just in time for him to wake up. Then, after his recovery time, we could go home, pick up our daughter from school, and maybe even catch a quick nap while my family all napped. Yeah...that didn't happen.

So, I get up way too early so we can get everyone ready to go. I'm not a morning person to begin with. But couple that with my husband's anxiety and my lack of sleep, I was so looking forward to nap time. After we got to the hospital we learned that by the time they knocked him out for surgery, my daughter would be so late getting to school it wouldn't be worth driving that far to drop her off for the hour and half of class. And my hubby was due to wake up from the anesthesia around the same time as when I got back. If they delayed his release at all, we'd be late picking my daughter up from school. And my sweet girl, while she wanted to go to school, she also wanted to be there for Daddy. So, my girls and I stayed at the hospital the entire time.

Thank goodness I took my mini tatting bag. This is my "on the go" bag. It's just a little ziplock sandwich bag with a single ball of thread, a couple of shuttles, and a small pair of scissors.

I was recently asked to teach at the local lace guild. At the last meeting, I had shown them the piece I was mailing to my tatting exchange partner--a 3D rose bookmark--and everyone liked it so much they asked me to teach them all how to make it at the next available meeting. So while sitting at the hospital, I thought it would be great to make a few examples to have on display--maybe a few roses by themselves, and one attached to a hair clip, maybe a pin, and then--of course--the bookmark. Well, that's more than just a couple of roses to make and what better time to make them than while sitting in the surgical center? And I had everything I needed to make the roses in my little bag.

Well, sleep deprivation became evident in my first rose of the morning. I messed up several of the rings by adding too many stitches. Then, I ran out of thread because I underestimated how much I needed. So my rose came out much thinner than the original pattern. Thank goodness this is such a forgiving pattern. Even a little thinner, the rose turned out beautiful.

With the rose done, I couldn't help but look at the clock on the wall. My husband's surgery should be finishing up soon. I got up to look at the guys playing a game in the nearby field that my kids were watching. They wanted to know exactly what game the guys (identified as firemen) were playing. But before long, I caught myself pacing the floor and could feel my anxiety rising with every tick of the clock. Time to make another rose. At least when my hands are busy, my anxiety stays in control.

The second rose I put in an extra effort to get the pattern just right. Great way to distract myself from the tick of the clock, though the other couple of people in the waiting room may not have appreciated the "under, one. Under, two..." mantra I had taken up.

The doctor finally emerged, only about 10 minutes late, and informed me everything went really well. Though, because my husband had waited so long to have the hernia taken care of, the damage was really bad. Now, I just had to wait for him to come to. The anesthesiologist had warned me that because my hubby didn't get much sleep the night before, he would likely take a little longer to wake. It's a good thing I was warned. A whole hour after the time he should have woken on his own, the medical staff decided to give him a little nudge. We were finally allowed to go see him.

My poor hubby was disoriented and upset. He really didn't like the idea of having a three hour gap in his memory. And given how out of it he was, I figured the hospital staff wasn't likely to let him out any time soon. So, I pulled out my tatting again and finished up the last couple of split rings, wound it up, and tied the rose into shape.

The surgical center was excellent, took really good care of all of us--not just my husband. And we were right next to one of my favorite sandwich shops, Kneaders, so I decided we should have a little treat after such a long day. Originally, we thought he'd be out of there around noon. We got out about two hours after that. The girls were angels the entire time, thank goodness. And they're still trying hard to be good little helpers. I'm going to have to make them special rose hair clippies now. They really earned them!

I never did get my nap. After getting everyone home, I put the girls and my hubby down for naps while I ran to the pharmacy to get his script filled. I got in a little grocery shopping while I waited, and found a whole bunch of movies on sale that I knew my hubby would enjoy. I kept thinking at the hospital that I should get him something, but what do you get for a guy? Flowers just seemed too frilly, so to stumble upon all of these movies that I know he likes was great luck.

The girls helped make a 'get-well' card that we tied to the movies, and heated up leftovers for dinner. I was so lucky I happened to make extra food the day before completely by accident. I think I've had a guardian angel looking out for me the last couple of days, helping me get through. We were all in bed before 9pm, which I'm pretty sure is a first!

I never thought I'd ever be grateful for the C-sections I had to endure with both of my girls. But those experiences certainly prepared me to handle this one. I know all about how to take care of post-hernia surgery patients, how to manage pain safely and effectively, and the importance of making my husband get up and walk around even though it brought tears to his eyes this morning. (The first movements after 8 hours of stillness are always the worst!) And my husband has finally agreed to listen to me and not let health issues go for so long.

Today, I'm still feeling the effects of yesterday's sleep-deprived adventures. But I can't complain too much. My kids are super helpful, and my hubby's doing really well. And today, I should be able to catch that nap!

It's never dull in the Light house!

ADOS

I suffer from ADOS--Attention Deficit . . . Ooh Shiny! It's the main contributor to the 9 or so active hobbies I currently work on and the countless projects in progress associated with each one. From seeing something I want to make and adding it to the list, to having started the project and just haven't finished yet, I've got enough to keep me busy for a very long time. And yet, I keep adding more.

Lately, nothing has been able to hold my attention for very long. I manage to get the dish washer half way loaded before something distracts me. I still haven't remembered to get clothes into the wash, and that's probably good thing since I'm sure I'd forget to put them in the dryer. And my homework looks like it's written in Greek-- which, technically, some of it is. Even my hobbies are falling prey to the ADOS.

For instance, I recently discovered two-bobbin shuttles. These shuttles allow me to work with more colors in my tatting, giving the piece more variation. With the table runner I've been working on for my sister, the two-bobbin shuttle is a perfect fit. Now, I know I could have saved a little bit of money and just bought some of that tacky putty stuff and stuck two shuttles together that way. But with as tiny as my hands are, that just seemed too unwieldy to make it worth saving $10. So I bought a two-bobbin shuttle, and started the table runner over again. (For those of you who read my previous post, I decided to start over. But I'm keeping what I had done and I'm working on ideas to convert it to something else. Right now, the most likely outcome will be a costume belt. I think it would be perfect to dress up a simple, renaissance linen dress-- even if it's not entirely historically accurate.) However, I didn't even get half way through the first section of a row (a section of a row is about a foot in length) of the new runner before I put it down and haven't touched it since.

After a day of my hands not being busy, I started looking for inspiration online. I found about a hundred things to add to my list of things to tat in the future, but nothing that jumped out and demanded to be made immediately. And so, my list of projects still in the planning phase has grown, but my hands remained restless.

I went into the crafts folder on my computer and began sorting through everything there trying to find something to work on from my many planned projects there. After making several new folders to help me organize everything, and a couple of hours sorting everything, again nothing jumped out. However, my list of supplies to purchase for some projects just got a little bigger.

I went to Hobby Lobby and decided to purchase the embroidery floss I needed to begin working on my next set of pillow cases (yet another project in the very early stages that I have waiting in the cue). It's been a while since I worked on anything embroidery, so maybe this would help get me out of this funk--right? Wrong. I haven't even been able to gain the motivation to wind the floss onto the plastic holder, let alone thread a needle. By this point, I was going stir-crazy, and just couldn't justify spending money on even one more supply for a project that may not even get off the drawing board and into my hands.

Watching movies or TV shows is usually a good way to keep my attention for a little while, and usually serves as a sort of reset button. A night of not thinking about anything, just having trivial information effortlessly poured into my brain is typically all it takes to kick the funk and get back to being productive. But even the shows weren't enough distraction to keep my fingers from itching for something to do, and I was getting fairly frustrated.

I read a book, and that helped a bit. Kept my hands and my mind occupied enough to keep me focused on something for more than five minutes. And for all you Jane Austen fans out there, I highly recommend this book. It's called Austenland by Shannon Hale. It's funny, imaginative, and "Austen-y", while being relevant in today's world. A very quick and relaxing read. All around good book, though I would have liked to see it be a little more developed and a little less in confusing "typos". But, it helped. I've at least been able to completely load the dishwasher in one sitting. But that's about all. The laundry is still in limbo, my homework is still Greek, and I still can't stay focused on a project. And since it only took me about two days to finish (which I was surprised it took me that long--just goes to show how distracted I've been), I started getting really antsy again.

I was, yet again, perusing the internet for free patterns to tat or crochet when I can across free knitting patterns. A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about knitting, and had found a great book of knitted lace patterns that looked interesting. So I decided to check out a few of these free knits sites. And now my list of things to make has grown that much more. Luckily, however, I did come across a few patterns that looked interesting, were in my difficulty level, and I happened to have all of the supplies for--sort of. I had to fib a little on the yarn and the size of needle. But if I didn't take to the project, just like I hadn't with the pillowcases, then at least I wouldn't have spent more money unnecessarily.

Well, this project "stuck". And the size needle I was working with was really starting to bug me in the overall effect it was creating. My sweet husband ran to Walmart after he got off work around midnight and bought me the size needles I needed. He even asked me if I had a color preference, the sweetheart. And now, for the last day plus a little, Ive been working on what was supposed to be a shawl and is turning out to be more of a scarf. Since my daughter lost the last one I had made her, and my husband won't wear a scarf, I figure I know who the recipient will be. My dishes are getting done, though the laundry is still sitting there. And all I can say about my homework is thank goodness for spring break.

Though I'm not technically behind in my homework at the moment, we're now down to the last 6 weeks of classes, so it's crunch time. It's too easy to fall behind in the last stretch, especially with all the big projects and presentations that are always due at the very end. And I'm not looking forward to it . . . at all. I'm so not ready for the break to end and the insanity to resume. And this next week is promising to be busy both in school and out. Yay. Thank goodness for a loving family (and a huge thank you to my ever patient sister who always knows just what I need, and who's door is always open when I need to run away for a little while--you're a lifesaver! Love you bunches!!!) and my needles, shuttles, hooks, and books who are always there for me, support and love me, and don't mind a little ADOS from time to time.

I must be crazy for considering this...

So I just discovered two-bobbin shuttles, and now I'm rethinking my latest project.

For those of you who don't know what I'm currently working on, I decided to make a table runner for my sister. I'm estimating this to be a 300 hour project, and so far I've put about 30-40 hours into it. And it's looking ok so far. But I was just thinking to myself the other day that I wished I could alternate the color of the leaves. I think it would help make the vines look like they're weaving better, and make it all look more dynamic and interesting. I started thinking about trying to add a second shuttle. Even though I'm new to the shuttle, I think I could make it work.

I was looking on InTatters.com, an online guild for lacemakers,  to see if anyone had posted anything like this--two shuttles AND ball thread, or three shuttles. I eventually stumbled across someone talking about their shuttles and posted links to some of their favorite suppliers. It was from following the links that I stumbled upon the two-bobbin shuttle.

What a beautiful invention! Now, I don't have to worry about tangled shuttles bouncing around, or dropping one and making a mess. Sounds like a perfect fit for my project, and of course I bought one. But now comes the question: do I scrap what I've already completed and start over so everything is more uniform? Or do I try to work what I have done into the "new and improved" design? And then comes the question of what do I work on while waiting for my awesome new toy?

Actually, I already know the answer to that last one.

It's somewhat painful to throw away 30 hours worth of work, even if the second attempt is far superior. But the size of this little strip will be different from all of the new stuff due to the extra thread running through everything, and I'm worried about the leaves on this strip (because they don't alternate color like they're going to on the new piece) causing the strip to stand out and look terrible. So. . .

Do I suck it up and start all over?

And that's not the only thing I'm thinking about starting over. . .

But that's a story for another post.

It's never dull in the Light house.

Sick babies and sore fingers

Just when you think things are going to calm down in your life, the universe decides to throw something else at you.

I was just recovering from the latest conference I had worked and was working as quickly as possible to catch up on a couple of missed tests. The previous weekend had been scheduled to be a relaxing one, but due to my sister's car breaking down at my house, that didn't work out so well. I finally got all caught up this last week and was looking forward to a weekend with my sister and her family coming down to visit again in an attempt to have the relaxing weekend that didn't work out so well the first time around. Everything was in place for a great weekend.

Then, around 5am Friday morning my oldest got sick. She's been throwing up at least once a month for the last three months now. I can't explain it. But every 3rd or 4th week she has a night where she wakes up, runs for the bathroom, and starts calling for me in between heaves. This night was the same as all the others.  I figured we'd keep her home from school just in case she got sick again in a few hours, but by evening she would be fine--just like last time. So when my sister called to confirm our plans, I told her my baby was sick, but to come on down anyway since whatever makes her sick all the time doesn't seem to ever be contagious.

Well, by dinner time, my poor girl was still not feeling well. She had refused to eat hardly anything all day, but did manage to keep down the water she was drinking for the most part. I figured after a good night's rest all would be well. I had class the next morning, but afterwards we were all going to hang out and watch movies and whatever else came to mind. . . (I'm sure you can guess where this is going. . .)

I managed to make it to class, and was able to grasp the concepts by the end despite being exhausted from getting up three times that night to help hold back the hair. My poor girl hardly left the bathroom all that day, wouldn't touch food at all, and only wanted water. Now, my oldest is already pretty skinny, and I think she just had a growth spurt on top of it. So two days of not eating and constantly throwing up was making me pretty nervous at this point. And now, she also had a fever. So I'm thinking, "Oh, great! I told my sister not to worry about her family getting sick because no one else in my house ever gets sick when my oldest does. But if she's running a fever, isn't that a sign of infection--either viral or bacterial? And if that's the case, I just exposed a bunch of people to whatever she has!"

Saturday night I found myself too exhausted to make the chicken and gnocchi soup I had been planning. Two hours was just way too much time and energy to devote to dinner. So I grabbed a frozen lasagna I keep on hand for nights such as these. After dinner, my sister popped in The Count of Monte Cristo, one of my favorite movies, and we attempted to have an enjoyable evening. We were mostly successful in the endeavor. The only down side was missing some of my favorite parts when my daughter started calling for me from the bathroom again.

Sunday was much the same as Saturday. By now, I'm getting really worried about my daughter losing weight. She doesn't have any extra weight on her--not at all. She never has. She was so pale and starting to look gaunt. I bought some Poweraid, which she drank and managed to keep down as well as she did with water. And she ate a piece of toast. So that was an improvement. But she still camped out in the bathroom feeling awful and unsure if she was going to be able to keep anything down. My sister and her family left for home before lunchtime, and soon after, my husband left for work and my girls went down for a nap. Luckily, this is where my little horror story ends.

My daughter hasn't thrown up since yesterday morning; though, I chose to keep her home one more day to be sure she was over it, and to give her and everyone else a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep. Her color is starting to come back, and her usual attitude is back too (for better or worse.) So now, other than making extra sure she eats all the healthy things she needs--and possibly starting her on a round of probiotics--things are back to normal. . . except my fingers.

Being so sleep deprived these last few days, all I've been able to focus on with any success has been my tatting. Though I was able to complete my stats homework and get full points, but to be honest, I have no idea what I put down and couldn't even tell you what the questions were. I tatted a little snowflake with what was supposed to be an angel in the middle. But as a friend pointed out, it just looks like a little cross. I haven't figured out how to give her a halo yet, which I think would solve the issue. It's just so tiny a space.

I also was able to add about 1/3 of another row to the table runner I'm making for my sister. Since she knows about it now, I can share pictures of it and all that. The concept is a bunch of vines all running together and weaving around each other. My sister has an ivy theme in her home decor, and (hopefully) this will fit right in. The runner 60 inches long and each row takes about 10 hours to tat. And with all the running to the bathroom anytime my baby called for me, 1/3 of a row was a bit of an accomplishment this weekend. However, my fingers are rather sore.

Even though I've worked up some callouses on each of my fingers where the thread rubs, I managed to tat so much that the thread has still left certain spots sore. I went down to the craft store today and bought a thin sheet of foam and some little velcro tabs that I glued on. The idea is for it all to protect my fingers, but we'll have to see how well they work. I haven't tried them out yet. But if it works, it'll be a cheap fix--and I'm good with saving a few dollars while still saving my fingers.

It's never dull in the Light house.

Even if no one reads this

I recently decided to start this blog (obviously), but I'm wondering who will read it. Who could possibly be interested in all of the random thoughts that will pass from my brain to my fingers and end up here? Judging by the very few responses I got when asking everyone's opinion on another site, I'm guessing my readers will be few and far between. But maybe this will be more like therapy for me than anything else.

I decided to start this blog as a way to talk about all of my many interests, hobbies, and whatever little bits of inspiration come to me. Not many people out there know what tatting or bobbin lace are. Perhaps only a few would be interested in learning to make lace in any form, even the more well known methods like crochet. But in that regard, I am unique.

I've been in love with lace since I was a little girl. I used to watch my grandmother make some of the most beautiful doilies that she would then place all around the house. She was an avid crocheter even when her health began to decline. She was never without her hook and thread.

About a year before my grandmother passed away, when I was about 9 or 10, I asked my mother to show me how to crochet. At the time, my mother knew a few of the many stitches and together we would make washcloth after washcloth. Sadly, my grandmother passed away before I ever had the chance to show her any of my work.

I started crocheting more than just washcloths, and soon found myself helping to work out mistakes in my mother's work. I entered an afghan that looked like the American flag into a local fair when I was only 13 and won first place. Of course, the fact that I was the only person of my age that entered a crocheted piece probably had a lot to do with it. But hey, a blue ribbon is still a blue ribbon. And the rest is history.

I've been crocheting for close to 20 years now. And as always, I have a work in progress. When I'm finished with it, I will have crocheted a table cloth. And not in the largest gauge thread either. I chose to work this piece in size 30 thread, which for those of you who don't know, is pretty small--especially for so large a piece. But the fineness of the lace is made so by the finer thread. So while this project is likely to take me years, it's will be a work of art. Something my grandma will smile down from heaven on as I continue to carry on this beautiful tradition.

It is for my love of lace that I name this blog.