General Update
Posted by Cyn | Filed under College, Family, Health
It has been some time since I posted much here, so I figure that I should do a bit of an update. It isn’t as if anything has changed in any big way. Sam has the same nice and stable job, and we’re still very happily together after—oh, wow, it’s twelve years this month.
Katie is a college student now, and still living at home (I’m very happy about that!) since she decided to attend a local school. Her health issues haven’t gone away, but she’s trying so very hard—I worry about her constantly. She pushes and pushes until she collapses every day and at the end of every week. She has a very active social life (what do you expect? she’s a babe!), and happily she has a great group of friends who are supportive about helping her get to class when neither she nor I drive.
One of the classes she was supposed to take (French) was canceled due to inadequate enrollment. She was terribly unhappy, and I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to helping her with the subject. On the other hand, it was an 8am class, and without it her earliest class is much later in the day. I think it worked out for the best for this semester.
I’ve had another nuisance come up with my own health, too. Annoying bodies. They’re great when you want to taste chocolate, hug someone, smell flowers, etc. but I have some complains about a few design flaws.
That’s enough for tonight. Tomorrow: More about Art!
Maybe It Isn’t the Flu
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Family, Fun, Health, Reading, Relationships
Katie seems to be feeling a bit better. She slept through most of the day, and just got up a few minutes ago (right at the end of my and Sam’s date) feeling like she could eat something. Solid food, even! That’s progress. Since she didn’t have any antivirals, I don’t think this was really the flu. She should still be much sicker if it was. I’m not at all unhappy about that. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, brain fog, date night, Katie, library, Reading, Sam
Three Good Things!
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Gratitude
The last time I responded to a prompt from Plinky, it posted with absolutely no context—so let’s try to fix that this time. Today’s prompt is:
“Share three good things about your life right now.
(A little New Agey, maybe, but it never hurts to look on the bright side.)”
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Disability, good things, Gratitude, health care, Katie, Medicare, Plinky, Sam, Social Security
Great article about Sam!
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Family, Links
Take a look: The Seven Sides of Sam Chupp « LeonDalePhotographer
It’s Sam’s Birthday!
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Family
And I have to say thank you to hs parents, and to the unknown woman who delivered him 42 years ago today. He’s the most incredible person I have ever known in my life.
Pretty picture, meme, etc.
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Art, Blogging
Sam started a meme!
Tags: jakerome, John's Background Switcher, Sam, WebShots
Time Flies
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Family, Reading, RPGs
I used to get so annoyed when my mother would say, “Twenty years from now, nobody will know the difference.” She was wrong in a sense—I certainly still know the difference, about so very many things.
On the other hand, I do understand the longer view much better now. Twenty years seemed like such a long time then, and now? It’s so very short.
In any case, Katie did get home from her trip to the great northwest. She had a marvelous time and thinks she has found her school.
I’m really proud of her. She planned this trip, to a place neither she nor any of us had ever been before, all by herself. She went without a qualm, had a marvelous time, managed her money marvelously, and made some great new friends.
Since then she also went to her first LARP. Again, she had a marvelous adventure, lots of fun, and found a new thing she enjoys. I think we need to acquire camping equipment.
Sam has started playing Burning Wheel with a group of local people. He really enjoys the game. I’m glad to see him getting out and having some social time with others.
I had a big thing happen, but I’m going to stay quiet about it a little longer, ‘til it’s also a sure thing.
In the meantime, I’ve found a nice outlet for my OCD urges as a “librarian” at Good Reads.
Tags: Good Reads, Katie, LARP, Sam
Um, Thank You?
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Family, Needlework
Look! TWO posts in ONE day! Maybe I’m finally crawling out of my pit of depression.
My very helpful child disapproved of how I was treating my small stitching project, so she sweetly put it in a huge Ziplock bag and “put it away.”
I have absolutely no idea where “away” might be, but it isn’t in my stitching bag, or near my recliner, or in the area where I’ve been sitting in the living room. Now she says she didn’t put it anywhere. Buh?
And we stopped at Michael’s yesterday to get the DMC I needed for it!1
I also got the fabric for two bigger pieces, though, so I can start one of those. Technically, I know that I have the fabric for Deep Peace around here somewhere, but I couldn’t find it, so I got a new piece. Now the original fabric will, of course, make itself known.
Smaller, less involved projects are better to do while in company, though. And it’s date night. The girl is, herself, out on a date, so I can’t even shanghai her into helping find the small project. Grump. She found supplies for a couple of different art projects while we were at Michael’s, too, so I expect heavy arting from her shortly.
We picked up dinner for the three of us at Little Azio’s on the way home, which was as delicious as usual. That was a lovely way to end a tiring, but rewarding, day.
1 I prefer shopping at an LNS, but my favorite went online-only and this was an instant gratification thing.
Tags: Deep Peace, Katie, Little Azio's, Sam
New Year’s Eve
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Family, Needlework
I hate coming up with titles. Can you tell?
Happy New Year to all of you. I hope to see more of you in person this year!
I’m still not feeling well at all, so I haven’t been online much. Despite that, my wrists have been aching as if I were working again. How does that happen?
Our Yule was quietly pleasant. I hope your winter holiday was as good.
I did finally finish stitching the Fairy Tale Sampler for Sam. It didn’t take that much stitching (so it can’t be blamed for the wrist pain), but I did have to re-purchase some Mill Hill beads. That gave me an excuse (like I needed it) to talk to Susan of Nease’s Needlework, which is always lovely. But now it’s finished!
My camera battery won’t recharge anymore, so I’ll have to convince the girl to take a photo of the piece for me.
I think I’m finally ready to do Deep Peace. It’s a gorgeous piece, and some people I love dearly got all the supplies for it as a gift for me a few years back. Unfortunately, we broke up right after that, and every time I started to work on it, I cried. I think there’s been enough time now that I can focus on the happy memories instead of the hard stuff.
I think I need to start a smaller project, too, that I can carry around with me. Complex projects don’t lend themselves to productivity while doing anything else, anyway. Sam tends to get me so interested in gaming that I can’t get much stitching done. Multi-person games are better for needlework, because I stitch while the focus is on someone else.
I’m not really into New Year’s Resolutions, and if I made them seriously, I’d be more likely to do so at Samhain than the end of January/beginning of December. Still, I’ve been realizing how much I’ve missed needlework. My eyes are still giving me trouble, but I got out an old, portable magnifier/travel light and that helps. I think it may be worthwhile to check into a magnifier attachment for my Ott Lite (after getting new glasses). I’m going to try stitching more regularly, and I’d really like to learn needlepoint and knitting and/or crocheting. I think I can manage the needlepoint on my own, but not the yarn stuff. Hopefully I can find someone local who is willing to teach me. Apparently there’s a group meeting at a local library that may be a possibility.
I thought my DMC was getting too old for use or something, because it kept fraying apart while I was stitching. I finally realized (after buying 3 new skeins of black floss) that I’d been using those needles that doesn’t require threading (which I love), and that they stress the floss (and the floss slips out easily). I switched back to a regular tapestry needle and presto! the problem was gone. I can’t find those no-thread needles anywhere online, so I guess other folks figured that out far more quickly than I did! I have a two-sided needle that came with a magazine or some such, but I don’t know that I can quite figure out how to use it.
Sam and I are staying in this evening, avoiding all the obnoxious drunks in favor of our own celebration. The girl is here, too, because her beau is in Europe with his family and most of her other friends are also out of town (something about a Flaming Lips concert?).
After getting caught up with all the shows I enjoy, I went looking for something else to view. I enjoy Bones, but I find the sizist comments (and plots) highly offensive. I tried to watch the first episode of The Mentalist online, but it keeps timing out. Sam got the first disc of The Tudors from Netflix, and it’s interesting at times. I tend to get annoyed with the liberties they’ve taken with history, though.
Tags: Bones, cross stitch, Holidays, Katie, RPGs, Sam
Anniversary!
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Relationships
Ten years ago today, Sam took me out on our first “real” date (as in, without the kids or anyone else). Thank you, love. Here’s to many more decades!
Tags: anniversary, Sam