Four Weeks of Work!

The past month has been a full one for me, that much is for sure. Chemo every third Tuesday, blood work every Monday and a new medical issue added to my already pretty full plate -diabetes! Ah yes, and I am so impressed with that last addition too!

Mandy's friend, Ken, when he heard that my family doctor was concerned about the blood sugar levels and considering putting me on insulin, brought down a glucometer plus a lancet and a container of test strips so I could try to start monitoring my blood sugar levels a little bit.

Then, when I went in for my last chemo treatment, almost three weeks ago, the oncologist was really concerned about the blood sugar levels showing up in my weekly blood work too so he said he was going to call my primary care doctor and discuss this with her and quite possibly, they would decide whether to put me on insulin (pills) or not. The nurses in the Cancer Center said they didn't see that much point in trying to get the sugar levels regulated right now because the chemo plays havoc with that stuff but, regardless of their opinion, the oncologist and my family doctor made the decision and I ended up with a prescription for the insulin pills.

Then last week, after my blood work, they decided to up the dosage of the insulin too. However, because I'd run out of the test strips, I called my PCP and asked her to give me a prescription then for the test supplies as I had to have a way to try to monitor the blood sugar.

Imagine my surprise -no, change that to shock -when I learned I couldn't take that prescription and go to a pharmacy in the area to have it filled unless I wanted to pay all the costs myself. It seems my insurance will only cover the test supplies as long as I order them through one of the "mail order" places that is on their list of approved suppliers! Darned good thing that I am not in dire need of this stuff -like life or death need, ya know -since it will take me at least a full week till I get my supplies sent to me. Of course, a lot of the delay is because of the Thanksgiving holiday and places being closed for that but still, what if it was imperative that I be taking blood sugar readings at least two times a day -if not more -but was unable to do that due to the hold-up in getting this testing equipment? Things like this -where I am locked into dealing with a supplier whether I really like the one I ended up with or not -really irks me to no end!

But anyway, be that as it may, I've been engrossed in a lot of other stuff the past four weeks too!

For openers, because I have a stack of books -about a dozen or so, at least -that I purchased well over a year ago but hadn't read, I decided it was time to work on the book pile and begin to whittle it down a little. I read four books in a week -one being a book by Mary Morris McGeary (not sure of the spelling of the last name there, but she wrote "Songs in Ordinary Time" several years back and won an award for that one -which I had read and loved) and the book I read this time "The Lost Mother" was equally as good. The other three books I read weren't bad, but they didn't hold a candle to this one, that's for sure!

And of course, as usual, every chance I got I was also doing more embroidery and tonight, I finally got around to taking some pictures of seven of the last projects I completed. I thought I had taken a picture of the 8th project but saw once I got them loaded into my Crafts Album on Facebook that I hadn't taken a shot of the poinsettia tabletopper I had completed so that will have to wait another day for me to get that done.

But anyway, here's the photos of the seven other projects I now have finished. If I'm ever going to get my account set up on Etsy.com to list the items I have completed, I'm gonna have to get cracking, that much is for sure.

So, here goes -my little show of what other things I've been doing!
First, here's a set of hand towels with a cute little Christmas Teddy Bear bringing presents for the holiday.

Next there's this tabletopper -"Bells and Bows" and the colors a muted shades of a pink/mauve with the ribbon in a pale aqua/teal type shade. Very pretty color combination and all of the bells and bows have gold metalic accents threads in them.

Then there's this tabletopper -"Oh Tannebaum" -which is an item I made three of this pattern last year for Christmas sales. A very pretty, but also very simplistic design.
This pillow case, from the Disney Winnie the Pooh collection, of good old Eoyre, is earmarked for a very special little boy in this house for one of his Christmas presents from Grammy. I have another one waiting in the wings to do up -a Princess one, Cinderella, I believe -for Maya but I'm gonna have to get really brave to tackle it because these sets are really tiny stampings for the stitches and a really hard for me to make them out at times then too. But, the kids love 'em, so you know who will win out in the long run then, don't you?



And finally -something I don't usually mess with -counted cross stitch! I love the way these things look but they do tend to make me somewhat cross-eyed when I work on them!

Anyway, these are acrylic coasters with a cork backing. The first set -"Sweet Delights" is a set of four whimsical candies -really cute. The second set -"Stylish Snowflakes" is a very pretty set of four coasters each with a different snowflake design. I actually enjoyed working on both these sets and surprised myself that I got them finished as quickly as I did.

Of course, doing all this stuff now, one thing I didn't have to worry about while working on these projects was getting upset at myself and pulling my hair out. Ain't got none right now to pull out, ya know!

But at any rate, it's something I enjoy doing, hopefully will even be able to sell a couple of these items so I can have a little extra cash to pay for some more kits and maybe even be able to pay down some of these excess medical bills that keep arriving pretty much on a daily basis, ya know! Cross your fingers and hope for the best once I get my Etsy.com site set up!

I see too now that I miscounted how many items I had done. The final total is seven -but I forgot to photograph the tabletopper with the border of poinsettia flowers and bows -a very pretty, rich-looking piece, all done in satin stitching. Yes, I'll get my fanny in gear and get a snap shot of it to post here in the very near future too. I promise!

So there you have it. The stuff I really enjoy -a lot -reading and or embroidery!

Mandy apparently wants me to start sewing again too now as she bought a pattern for a coat and dress set in Maya's size. However, I told her if she wants me to do any kind of sewing it will mean that my sewing machine will have to be brought out from my bedroom and set up in the living room. A move I didn't figure would go over all that well with her because she grumped about the sewing machine being in the living room when I used to keep it in here but she just shrugged her shoulders and said that was fine with her adding that it really wasn't her idea to move it to my room in the first place. So in other words, it annoyed the hell out of her ex-husband apparently. Well, once I get it set up in here, we shall see how long it takes before she decides she's tired of it being out and in the way, etc., etc.

Time now for me to get some sleep so I can get up early in the morning and begin working on the potatoes and vegetables, etc., for our two-days-late Thanksgiving supper we'll be having here Saturday night. If you happen to be in the vicinity of our house around 6:30-7:00 p.m., and if you're hungry, stop by and join us.

Always enough food to feed at least one more, ya know!