Today I Am...

    ::celebrating:: 51 years (young)

    ::watching:: the sun rise (while the cats explore

    ::lighting:: candles – the ordinary Yankee Candle kind

    ::determined:: to keep plugging away on the cross-stitch project

    ::eating:: Pizza (homemade gluten free) for dinner

    ::looking forward:: to attending Formula 1 Racing with Dan in Austin, Texas

Macro Monday and Birthday

{Note: Picture used in above meme was one Dan took at Garner State Park years ago.}

Today is my birthday. I turned 50. Eeeks!!! I shall forget today ever happened. Ha!

We went to Floresville Peanut Festival this past Saturday which was not all that great in my humble opinion. It was much better years ago. The weather did not help and may have been a factor. I did go to two of my favorite antique stores; but, I did not find a single thing.

We are planning to take a vacation and travel soon. I am looking forward to that and am praying for good health! I will endeavor to take pictures and jot down travel notes.

{To see a larger image, go here.}

In the meantime, here is a macro for you that kind of sort of reflects my mood. I thought it was a beautiful viewpoint. It was taken after a storm passed through the area.

Updates {& Today is my Birthday}

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Today is my birthday and we will be spending the morning with Stanley Steemer. Joy. NOT! On the positive side, we should be finished with the rental house today. Hurray! The only minor things we will have to do is cancel utilities and give the keys back and a copy of the receipt to the Landlord next week.

We have moved! We have been officially living in our home for almost a week now. I have been slowly and steadily unpacking and feeling frustration because I am not sure what will go where yet. But, most of the kitchen stuff is unpacked and there is still plenty of space left to use! It is almost half empty! I am even using some upper kitchen cabinets to store candles. If you know my love affair with Yankee candles, then you understand. Ha!

I must say that the last week or so really stunk concerning the internet. The internet choices out here are extremely limited. We are using a AT&T 4G hotspot; but, we have rapidly discovered that our activities eat up gigabytes (GB). And, I even stopped watching new Youtube videos before we moved out here. In spite of my reduction of many things, five gigabytes were reached in a hurry.

Much to my sadness, I have decided to stop following many blogs. And, I have had to limit even more of my activities on the internet. As a result, Link Roundups will be on a limited basis. Also, I am feeling very isolated. I am missing my “friends”. And, I do not know what the heck is going on in the world. It is driving me batty.

You have to understand that deafness prevents me from participating within most real life community activities. I am unable to give voice to my thoughts due to the fact I misunderstand so much of what it being discussed. In fact, I actually fear real life discussions. The discovery of the internet opened up my world to a wide variety of people without fear of being misunderstood. Instead of a world of isolation and silent observation, I became an active participant. There is no fear of misunderstandings through writings. And the biggest perk, there is no rejection and/or impatience on their part due to the fact I am deaf. I would say that 98% of the people I “talk” with do not even know this fact about me.

I can only hope that a solution to this internet problem is found. I am feeling truly isolated and I do not need that deep dark depression in my life again. We have satellite TV. Dan originally did not want satellite internet due to the fact the speed is not all the great. He wants great speed in order to keep on F1 racing on Fridays through the Xbox with the guys from work.

Anyway, I suggested that we get satellite internet for me/us as I will not mind any sluggishness and he can have the AT&T hotspot for those gaming times with the guys. Last I heard, Dan is going to check out the prices and whatnot. So, here is hoping that the current situation improves.

Company is coming over in a couple of weekends. I am so excited and looking forward to the visiting! Of course, I am stressing because the house is still a mess with boxes and whatnot. But, it is okay. They understand that we have just moved and nothing will be perfect. I just need to kick my perfectionist inside of me out to the curb and just relax. However, this does give me the motivation to get as much as I can get done before they arrive. I can only hope they will enjoy their stay with us.

Now, I must be off to celebrate my birthday in style. Or not. Ha!

Today I am...

Today I am old! Ha! One year older. I turned 47 years old today. Yikes!


I found out yesterday that I won two yards of Panier de Fleurs of my choice from the Fat Quarter Shop through Talkin’ Tuesdays on Twitter. Learning this bit of news lifted my mood immensely. Thank you @caraquilts and @FatQuarterShop for this early birthday present! I do not think anybody knew that the next day was going to be my birthday. So, it was a wonderful surprise!

In the middle of the night (last night), I woke up with a migraine. It was a pounding ugly one. Fortunately, it eased by 7:00am this morning. I disliked the sunshine. Someone on facebook said it was a glorious morning! I privately said “bah humbug” to that cheerful person.


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Ha!
I still have residual effects of the migraine; so, you'll have to excuse any grammar and spelling errors that may be in this post.

I was planning to go the beach today; but, the after effects of the migraine changed my mind. I took it easy this morning and gradually felt better. By the time 11:00am rolled around, I felt like venturing outdoors. I decided to see Mother and then head on over to the nearest Denny’s for my free Grand Slam birthday meal. It was delicious; although, the service stunk at that particular restaurant.

Since I felt up to doing some shopping, I decided to go on mini quilt shop hop! I first went to my formerly favorite quilt shop, the Painted Pony ‘n Qults (PPQ). I roamed inside the store for a bit; but, I did not find anything I had to have. So, I went onto another quilt shop called Pinwheels and Posies (P&P) which has now become my favorite shop in the area. This was my first visit to this particular shop. It is smaller; but, still loaded with fabric. The staff is really nice! I have never encountered friendlier staff than they. Most do not have the patience with hearing impaired or deaf people like me. But, these were very nice and understanding people.

Anyway, I roamed the shop and noticed that the prices were slightly lower than the PPQ. Although, P&P probably had less than half the amount of fabric. The shop is mostly organized and grouped by color with a few fabric lines standing out. They had some Essential Dots by Moda mixed up in the groupings of colors. I wanted these for eons. But, I decided against purchasing any of these because I knew that I can eventually buy some at my favorite online quilt store.

I found a fabric I loved. And then, I noticed the same pattern was in another color. I kept on finding the same pattern in different colors.


source: Moi!

Ten in all! I ended up purchasing ½ yard of each except the brown. I purchased 2 yards of that as I loved the color. Don’t ask me why; but, I have loved rich browns for several years now. One of these fabrics, I believe it was the black, was 20% off. I did not know this until she marked the ticket. I told the lady that I was not going to argue with her. Ha! These fabrics are part of the Isadora line by Blank Quilting. And, I discovered via this site that the brown color is “Chocolate”! How appropriate!

After I finished with the P&P shop, I decided to head on over to Quakertown Quilts (QQ) . Imagine my disappointment upon discovering that this shop is closed. They were in business for 23 years! They do have what I call a 'sister shop' in The Woodlands; but, I was not about to travel that far!

So, I went to see my Mother again briefly and then crashed a bit at the house. I decided that I did not feel like dining out for dinner; so, I went to Chili's to order some food to go. Once I got back to the house, I settled down with a book and pigged out on some delicious Cajun Pasta with Grilled Chicken.


In spite of my disappointment over QQ, in spite of my rough beginning to this day due to the migraine, and in spite of missing my Dan, I had a pretty good day!

A Week of Celebration

Yesterday was my birthday and it was good in spite of finishing up on the cleaning and clearing out the house to make it ready for the stranger appraiser to arrive. Our landlord is refinancing the house and for some reason, it needs to be appraised.

It is a blessing to have everything in order once again. And, I plan on keeping it this way. I am very happy the house is cleaned and cleared out. That is the best birthday gift even though I had to work at it with Dan's help. Ha! By the way, Dan had the day off which made the day better.

I’ve been “celebrating” since last Saturday. I’ve declared all this week to be my birthday and for the first time, not stressing over things. I’ve been very relaxed. My “celebration” will end this coming Sunday.

I bought myself a gift using a 50% off coupon at Michaels. It is a 12-1/2" x 12-1/2" quilting ruler by Omnigrid - something I've been wanting for some time now.

I received a “kajillion” birthday coupons in my email box. Let me list them:

1. Denny’s: Free Grand Slam. Valid on my birthday only
2. Baskin Robbins: Free Scoop (2.5 oz). Expires 10/18
3. Jason’s Deli: $5.00 off. Expires 10/20
4. Red Robin: Free Gourmet Burger. Expires 10/20
5. Great American Cookies: Free Cookie Cake slice with drink purchase. Expires 10/20
6. Taco Cabana: Free Flauta Plate (chicken). Expires 10/20
7. Chili’s: Free brownie sundae. Expires 10/21
8. Friday’s: Free dessert w/purchase of entrée. Expires 10/21
9. Waffle House: Free waffle. Expires 11/1
   

We redeemed #5 last Sunday. I shared it with Dan as I can never eat a whole one. It was very good. I haven’t had one in AGES. I stay away from them places nowadays.

And yesterday, we went to Red Robin (#4) for lunch. We only go there once a year, for my birthday, because it’s too expensive. Just for a Gourmet burger, it’s over $9.00. Ouch. But, with the freebie, it makes for dining out reasonable. We also went to Denny’s (#1) last night for dinner. Yummo!

I paid the price in the middle of the night from all that bad eating. But oh, it was sooo good.

Today, I think I will go to Baskin Robbins (#2) this afternoon. And, I am planning to meet Dan for lunch Friday to go to Jason’s Deli (#3).

I think we’ll go to Taco Cabana (#6) sometime this weekend. I have never been and am curious how the food is. And, we'll go to Chili’s (#7) that afternoon for a snack. Friday’s coupon might be used this weekend also. I haven’t decided yet as I rarely have dessert after eating a meal. Maybe, Dan can get the meal and I the dessert? Ha!

The Waffle House most likely will not be used as we do not have one here where we live.

So, all in all, it’s a very frugal week.

And now, I’m off to drop off my laptop in the mail. It’s kaput and heading off to Dell. I am currently using Dan’s laptop along with my portable backup hard drive (HD) at the moment.

Speaking of which, I’m disgusted at myself because I discovered earlier that I did not back up my “1000 gifts” list (document). I’m kicking myself mentally over that. Hopefully, it’s just the video card or screen on my laptop that is kaput, not my HD. In the meantime, I started a new “1000 gifts” list.

Anyway, I’ll do a little window shopping after I drop off my laptop at a Fed Ex drop station. And, I’ll pig out on ice cream this afternoon. I can mentally celebrate the fact that it’s my Sister-in-law’s birthday today. That is my excuse. Ha! Dan and I are going to get fat this week from all the eating out that we normally do not do. Coupons are both good and evil.

Happy birthday to me. And, to Gina. And, to Deb. And, to Linda. And, to Amanda...

"I'll See You Later"

Today is my Dad’s birthday. He would have been 79 years old. Today makes it a little over 1-½ years since his passing on January 13, 2009. Today is a hard day.

For the longest time, I could not say goodbye – that word seems so final. And, for the longest time, whenever I think about returning to his final resting place to say goodbye, I’d break out into heart wrenching sobs. I just couldn't bring myself to go back.

This week has been a hard week. It is bittersweet with Dad’s birthday being today and the blessing of a new baby shower coming tomorrow. It was made all the harder when Mother got sick. She is battling UTI again and the antibiotics she was taking made her sicker. In fact, this particular antibiotic has made her sick in the past. So, when my brother found out what she was taking, he arranged it so that she’d get a different antibiotic. They took away the pills and are giving her shots. She seems to be doing better albeit weak.

Her skin on her face is still pale and beautiful. And, her mind is still going strong. It’s her hands that give her away. She used to have such beautiful petite soft hands and now, they are a 90-year old lady’s skeletal hands. She’s only 75 years old. It makes me feel sad.

It is times like this that I miss my Dad the most. He never wanted to be the first to leave. He wanted to be around to take care of Mother. But, life often deals hard knocks and takes away your choices.

As I pondered and did much soul searching this week, many things came to light in my mind and heart. It came to me that I was not allowed to properly grieve during that awful week between Dad’s passing and his funeral. And now, whenever I think upon the events that occurred during this time, it leaves only sorrow in my heart with a hint of anger. I honestly believe that I had to get past that first before I could properly grieve for Daddy. Even though I realized that those things have conspired against my ability to fully grieve Daddy’s passing, I still could not say goodbye. I still broke out into heart wrenching sobs.

In one of my many silent listening moments, a memory came to me out of the blue. I recalled one of my favorite Great Uncle’s conversations about the word "goodbye". I remember that he, too, disliked that word. For him, the word "goodbye" seems so final, so harsh. Instead, he preferred to use the phrase “see you later”. It always left room for the hope that we’ll see each other again someday whether it would be on earth or in Heaven.

In my heart, I realized that the same is true for me. "Goodbye" is not the word for me to use. Instead, it should be “see you later”. And, for the first time, I only had tears streaming down my face instead of heart wrenching sobs and a broken heart. I can look forward to the hope of seeing him again and move on with my life.

So today, I returned for the first time to Dad’s final resting place.


Today, I wished him a happy birthday.


Today, I told him about the newest little one coming into the family in November, a baby girl, his great granddaughter, Lily. I know in my heart he would have so adored and loved her so much.


Today, I told him I loved him very much and missed him terribly.


Today, I bid farewell to my Daddy. I said to him “I’ll see you later”.

I walked away feeling at peace…