When it rains it pours Wednesday

Monday night we found out our neighbor was experiencing a setback. Fred ended up being readmitted to the hospital yesterday (Tuesday). His daughter told us this morning (Wednesday) that he has blood clots in his lungs, it is treatable and hopefully he will be home again in a week.

To top it off, my husband, who is a runner, was out running this morning a little after 7 AM and something went POP in his knee and he can't walk and he called me (from some strangers cell phone who happened to pass by) to come pick him up. Well ... I was in the shower ... so I didn't hear the phone ringing. Fortunately I did see the phone was blinking a little while after he called, (felt that old sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, early phone calls = bad news) and checked our caller ID and it was from someone I never heard of. Thankfully I listened to the message right away anyway and picked up my husbands message.

I threw on clothes, checked the stove and doors and flew out the door and jumped in the car. The only problem was, it turned out that I didn't know where the street was where he was!!! I sure thought I did, but well, I sure didn't! Which is pretty funny since I lived on it when I was born and until I was two years old. But ... I never had any reason to go back there so I had remembered it being to the west of this one street and in fact, it was to the east of the main drag. Duh. D'oh. ARGH! And of course it was a hilly area, with dead ends and cul de sacs and no rhyme or reason which streets cut through. I stopped and asked first one woman, who turned out to be what sounded like Russian or Eastern European and she didn't have a clue and then I drove a few blocks back to the main street and stopped a man and ... he also sounded Russian to me or Eastern European. Too funny. well not really. I thought I must be going bonkers. Thank heavens though, he knew where the street was and I finally found my husband.

We went to the ER, brand spanking new and only one other person waiting. Our odds of getting in and out relatively quickly looked sooooooo great. Nuh uh. Hubs got to see the triage nurse almost right away to tell her what he was there for but then we waited and waited for them to open up another unit and the arrival of another shift of doctors at eleven a.m. ... 11:30 came and the doctor finally arrived to interview and assess my husband. She's calling it a knee sprain, says he needs to see an Orthopedist and probably have an MRI to determine what's up. He has to wear a knee immobilizer and use crutches and he's supposed to stay off of his feet. No one could see him today, so we're off to see the Orthopedist tomorrow. So much for a relaxing spring break vacation!

Once we were done in the ER, crazy nutball husband decides he wants to see Fred, since our neighbor is at the same hospital, kill two birds with one stone. So we did that, made a fast visit to say hello. Poor Fred said he's losing faith in his getting better. Broke my heart.

Hump Day really had some humps to get over this week. WAH! Hope you're faring better and not having a when it rains it pours Wednesday!

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot cross buns

If you have no daughters
Give them to your sons
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot cross buns

Easy Hot Cross Buns from King Arthur Flour

Hot Cross Bunny Buns at Just Hungry

Charming hot cross cookies from 5 Types of Sugar

Fig and Sour Cherry Hot Cross Muffins from The British Larder

Mini Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns from Fact or Fiction

Monday blog love

ACK! When I went to the needlework store on Saturday, the clerk was really REALLY sick. And now I feel yucky. Praying it's just allergies but I don't think it is. WAH! Loads of blog links for you ... I think I'm beginning to repeat myself but it's always good to make our way back to and revisit charming spots isn't it?! (is that a good excuse for my middle aged failing memory teehee?!)

100 Pretty Things
123 lavender lollipop lane
A Cuppa Tea With Me
All I Ever Wanted
At Home in Albuquerque
Beedeebabee
born to fly
bricolage life
cherished vintage
Constantly Vintage
Freebie Gallery
Gingham World
Marilyn Butler
On Awesome Avenue
one crafty mumma
Over the moon
Rebekaha
recipe look
sophistimom
Talk Crafty To Me
The Art of Clothes
The Vintage Housewife
Truffles
turn UP the sound
Unlimited Possibilities
Vegetable Matter
Vintage Rescue Squad

Tomatomania! and other fun stuff!

Saturday was Tomatomania! We climbed in the car and drove out to the (warm!) Valley and picked out six different tomato varieties. I wanted more than that, it was so very tempting to go hog wild, but since we don't have the greenest of thumbs, I thought that was a good number.

Friday had been the first day and their stock was already seriously depleted when we got there Saturday morning. WAH! Drat! The info said there was a Michael Pollan one but it had already sold out, he's one of our heroes. Note to self: next year get there on Friday!!!

There were so many people buying plants and you could hear people who knew their stuff giving advice to friends ... there were a couple of people on their cell phones calling their friends saying, "you've got to get here now". Perhaps the most fun was seeing all the families and all the children so excited about growing veggies.


Speaking of families and good eating, are you watching the new Jamie Oliver series, Food Revolution? We loved the series he did in England about changing the meals served in school cafeterias and look forward to this one in the US too. If you watched the "preview" episode (why is there a preview episode?! why isn't it just the first episode?!) and the first episode, I wonder if you're like me, wondering who that radio show host is, giving Jamie a hard time?! Why is he being such a major schmuck to Jamie Oliver, who wants nothing to do but help children to be healthy?! geez. How could anyone possibly have a problem with that? What a bozo brain and major jerk and a half. When and how, did mean spirited-ness become interesting and entertaining?! I am so sick of and disgusted by the media meanie pants people.

After Tomatomania, I'd like to say we flew down the 101 to the embroidery store, but there's no flying anywhere in Los Angeles traffic ... we did the car creep to the other end of the valley ... someone please, take my wallet away from me and return it to me in 2011! I picked up all the latest Blackbird Designs (can't get enough of them!) and three Little House Christmas ornament designs.










I really need to sit down and get some stitching done! But before I tackle all of those, I'd really love to do a sampler a la Amy Powers and her 39 squares stitch-along, that I mentioned recently. I am having so much fun watching everyone's grow.

Lots of fun stuff happening in blog land! Have you been a peeping Tom too and eavesdropped on the Alice tag swap?! What fun that must have been to fall down that rabbit hole teehee!
Alice Tag Book Swap
Alice Tag Book Swap hosted by Karla's Cottage

And Elizabeth of Creative Breathing is hosting a retro appliance tag swap and it's so much fun to watch as Elizabeth shares the charming entries with us. (tag swap is still ongoing - scroll down to see some of the entries that have arrived already)
Creative Breathing Retro Appliance Tag Swap

Mind your peeps and ewes!

Get it ... peeps and ewes ... p's and q's ... bwahahahhahahahaha!

okay okay, it's a big groaner ...

Make a Peeps tote from Craftzine.
Peeps Tote Tutorial

Needle felt a little sheepy from Craft Ideas.
Needle felted sheep

Make your own marshmallow Peeps from Martha Stewart.
Homemade Peeps recipe

Baby sheep pattern from Harugurumi
Baby Sheep pattern

Make Peeps S'Mores in a Jar foodie gifts from Roots and Wings Co.
Peeps S'Mores in a Jar recipe

Use up your leftover yarn and make these darling sheep from The Inadvertent Farmer.
Yarn sheep

Be creative like T-Wood's and make your own Peeps sugar cookies. If you scroll down through her flickr comments, you will see that she says she used a "make your own cookie cutter kit". (Learn something new every day, I've never heard of this before!) Oh and then she says she put two cookies together, to look like the attached Peeps in the box. Cute!
Peeps Sugar Cookies (no recipe, just image)

Make a Sheep Easter Egg from Family Fun
Sheep Egg

Make felt Peeps from Dusty Bottom Acres
Felt Peeps PDF

Eat your carrots

I found this adorable carrot cross stitch freebie from The Cricket Collection, via Sylvia's wonderful blog. The image is of Sylvia's finished project and she has also created a finishing tutorial for the project. Thank you Sylvia!
The Cricket Collection Easter Freebie
Sylvia's Blog
Sylvia's carrot tutorial (in German but Sylvia speaks English and welcomes your questions)




Make these darling carrots from Clare's Craftroom (found via one pretty thing).
Carrot tutorial at Clare's Craftroom
Clare's Craftroom
One Pretty Thing



Instead of a basket, make a little carrot giftie bag from Gratz Industries (found via whipup).
Gratz Industries
Whipup (Easter links)



Embroider a vintage carrot kitchen towel from Tip Nut.
Vintage carrot pattern at Tip Nut



Crochet a charming carrot from Midnight Knitter.
Carrot tutorial



Make a festive carrot table runner for your holiday table from All People Quilt.
Carrot table runner

Does April 3rd mean anything to you?

This ones for you honey!



My husband is a MAC Head. He has been heard to mutter Steve Jobs is God. We are on high alert over here and counting down the moments until April 3rd and the release of the iPad. With profound reverence bwahahhahaha, I bring you (found via the wonderful not martha, this is the last link in her list), Steve Jobs Cheese Head from The Cooks Den, for your iPad celebration party! You can choose from the Spicy Steve Nachos, iPad Thai and Apple Cheese Plate. (There's a cute remark in the comment section about maybe the cheese plate should have some Apple slices.) Let me know if you find any other celebratory Steve-ness on the net!

TasteSpotting Tuesday

Oh my! Look at these Easter yummies I found via TasteSpotting. (After I went to their main page, I entered Easter in their search box and voila! CUTENESS!)

Is this the cutest gift wrapping, bar none?! ... cream cheese muffins in little origami bunny wrappers from eyecandy.

eyecandy

I love Peanut Butter! Make your own chocolate covered peanut butter Easter eggs from Rah Cha Chow.

Rah Cha Chow

Here comes Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail! Darling Easter bunny breads from Minjina Kuhinjica.

Minjina Kuhinjica

Oh my gosh, talk about presentation, look at this bento box from Adventures in Bento Making! That would delight any bunny in your life!

Adventures in Bento Making

Look what Modern Foodie has growing in her garden!

Modern Foodie

Dare I say, Food & Cook may be the most gorgeous blog ever - certainly one of the most mouth-watering-est!!!

Food & Cook

Monday blog love

Well goodness me ... I think you can tell from the list below that I spent one day last week glued to my chair in front of the computer. gosh, that's a little embarrassing, gulp, stammer stammer ... but I'm gonna own it teehee. Hope you find something that tickles your fancy in the list.

And a special mention of one of my favorite blogs ... yup, I was stuck to my chair again ... Julie Collings of the adventures of bluegirlxo, has the most adorable Easter tutorials on her blog and you need, yes, you need, to run over and see them if you haven't already. :) She has several so just keep scrolling down ...

Happy Monday!

1richtungsblog
39 squares
a conversation at goodwill
A Polar Bears Tale
Angela Harris
Blessed and Distressed
Bleu Bird Nest
Charming Quark
Chronically Vintage
Fair Blue Moon Studio
Gypsy Fish Journal
Handmade Today
Into Vintage
Ishtar Olivera
It's All About Creating
Kay Loves Vintage
Kitchen of the Princess
Little Red House
MadeStuff
Margo's Junkin Journal
Miss Mustard Seed
My Nifty Needle
My Scandinavian Retreat
Nicole's Needlework
Nobody Puts Mama In A Corner
Nordic Book Blog
Notes from Blue Hen Hollow
Oodles and oodles
Reflections from the Stone Nest
Sea Cottage
Sweet Myrtle
The Sum Of All Crafts
time out stitching
Vintage Flair
when skies are grey
With thy needle and thread

Easter Garlands

Thank you everyone for all your care and concern about myself and my dear neighbor. We received a note yesterday from Fred's daughter saying he was doing well (WHEW!) and that he had been moved out of ICU and into a private room. She said his cancer is inoperable but they expect him to have many good days yet.

We went and saw him this morning at the hospital and he looked great. His brother and his wife were there when we arrived and shortly thereafter, his grandson and his great-grandsons arrived and then a woman with the cutest therapy dog. So it was quite a full house and lots of love going around.

He had had a restless night and he dozed a bit while we were there but his spirits were good. He did express some anxiety about going home and being alone - then he added that he felt better knowing we were next door. That really tugged at my heart.

Anyway, so today is a lot brighter around here. Hope you're all having a lovely Sunday!

Here's some fun Easter stuff ... I just realized I need to make my Easter cards this coming week, don't I?!

From Creative Breathing, the most charming combination of felt and paper cuties for your Easter Garland.


You may find Creative Breathing's Easter Garland tutorials listed on her right hand sidebar, under "Things You're Looking For", which is a few topics down from the top. When you find "Things You're Looking For", click on "Garland Along" and it will take you to the March 2nd entry. This is the last entry for the Easter Garland, if you scroll down, you will find all the other entries and directions and patterns. So cute!



Darling felt Easter garland from Holiday Crafts and Creations


Paper Easter garland from Hostess with the Mostess



Recycled paper Easter Garland from Three Kitchen Fairies



Tissue paper Easter garland from Two Straight Lines

hop hop hopping along

Thank you guys so much for your kind words and hugs yesterday, I so appreciate them and they helped to cheer me. My time at the computer is quite often spent hearing Fred puttering around in his garden or tinkering in his garage on some project and also the sounds of Molly's bark, saying hello, come play with me, to all who pass by her home - so I find myself going through the kleenex sitting here today, missing both of those comforting sounds. Longing for good news about Fred today.



Well gosh.

It's hard to move on.


I sat like a lump in front of the computer screen all day yesterday. (You would not believe how long Monday Blog Love is going to be on Monday! Even amongst the most intrepid link clickers, it will take three years to get through it teehee!)

Most excitingly, I found a wonderful stitch-along project blog, 39 squares.

You're probably saying, "Why of course!"

How on earth did I miss it? I read Amy Powers blog and I look at a gazillion other blogs and yet missed it, I did! I apparently fell asleep sometime this year and am just now coming to. GEEZ!

I sat there all afternoon, transfixed by the charming samplers everyone is making. I looked at everyone's blogs and all the flickr photos. I was relentless, I did not give up until hubby came home. (And he came home with Indian food ... YIPPIE!)


Well, I can hardly believe it but the calender says it's nearly Easter! Time to roll out some bunny crafts huh?!

Make this darling bunny from Craft Ideas.

And this adorable bunny stuffie from Hazelnuts.


Make a bunny softie from recycled sweaters at Craftzine.

And don't forget Hillary Lang's darling freebie bunny pattern - here's the two I made for my nieces several years back. Ay yi yi, I made them after I hadn't sewn anything in years and didn't stuff them enough. WAH!

Bluer than blue

WAH!

Well gosh. Yesterday didn't turn out so great. When my husband came home yesterday, he told me that he had found a note on our trash can (it was trash pickup day and he was putting them back in the garage) from our neighbors across the street, asking him to please come over. They are a darling family, two little kiddies, one grandma and the most lovely of furry family members, who happens to be our doggie's BFF.

The grandmother was home and told my husband that their beloved furry girl, Molly, had died on Tuesday night. She was throwing up and then couldn't breath, they rushed her to the ER and she died. SOB!!!!!!!!!! The grandmother said the vet thought it was an allergic reaction to something. So heartbreaking.

It has been a horrible time for our neighbors, their home was recently burglarized in broad daylight. The husband was home and then left to run errands for a couple of hours. They believe the thieves entered via the doggie door, and sprayed poor Molly (a big Golden Retriever lump of love, who would have welcomed them with endless tail wagging) with something, as later their daughter was petting the dog after this had occurred and her hands and face were burning.

And now this, losing Molly. The most wonderful of doggies, big and bouncy and hairy, the sweetest of natures and just two years old.

SOB SOB SOB I can't stop crying buckets.

And then this morning ... when going outside to pick up our newspaper, my husband finds a note on our screen door regarding our neighbor directly next door - my "don't make 'em like they used to", salt of the earth, dearest of the dear, 94 year old neighbor, who I have lived next door to for 29 1/2 years - a note from his daughter and son-in-law, saying Fred has lung cancer and is in the hospital.

SOB SOB SOB

This of course makes me think about my own 91 year old father, who has had "something" (his word) going on in his lungs for awhile. He bobs and weaves, avoids my questions and when asked point blank, will not give a straight answer. He is immovable and will not give me any words at all.

SOB SOB SOB

Woe is me. It's a chin dragging sad sack day around here today. sniffle sniffle

The only good news I have is that our St. Patrick's Day dinner turned out very nice. Much to my surprise. The faux corned beef and cabbage was going along great but then I put too much buttermilk in the soda bread, it was a soggy lump - but miracle of miracles, it turned out fine. WAHOO! And then I had to start the St. Patty's Day whoopie cookie recipe and time was flying by and I was thirsty and reached for a glass from the cupboard ... can you feel what's coming?! ... yup, dropped the glass in my haste on the tile counter and glass flew EVERYWHERE. Ay yi yi.

And then my husband came in the door, crying, with the news about Molly.

SOB SOB SOB

Hug and kiss all your dear ones, furry and otherwise, today!

Top of the morning to you!

By gosh and begorrah! Wishing you a very Happy Saint Patrick's Day!




I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to make for dinner tonight. Do I try to make a vegetarian version of Corned Beef and Cabbage again (the previous recipe wasn't very exciting) or do I make Bubble and Squeak or Colcannon or??? Decisions, decisions.

I'm going to make a traditional soda bread. I was going to make a more foo - foo'd up version (after all the wonderful versions I found yesterday!) until I saw a link to the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread! I certainly don't want to be a participant in the decline of Irish Soda Bread teehee.

By the way, I stumbled upon the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, via a link in the comments on this blog entry at Whipped, which has another yummy, no er um, I mean, FALSE, poseur, of Irish Soda Bread. (comment #4, Ed sets us all straight - thank you Ed for keeping us on the right track!)

Please don't report me to the SFTPOISB, but that sure looks good! Blasphemy, I know. ;)

(image from Whipped)