WWQP Bulletin Board Chat: 9/23/07

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Joleen's blocks

Are we signing these -- perhaps in the seam allowance? I tried to do a "find" on the page and couldn't find the find .... thanks. Lavinia-TN

Friday, September 28, 2007

Rainy day here

Great video, Doris.
Good that yesterday was clean up day for the front flower beds. Sunny and warm. Moved 2 dozen plants that grow too big here. Some to circle the maple tree, others to the back of the biggest bed. Next to dig some of the hollyhocks - they are taking over. Double peach pom poms on them; bloom all summer. Do love them but they grow roof high and spread. Found that cutting back the largest canes helps. Potted the 5 best geraniums to take to AZ for the winter. They and petunias grow well in the ground here. It is too hot for them in pots. The gardening column says to wait another month to plant bulbs; the soil is still too warm.
Still working on the night sky quilt. The lime just introduced is brightening up the deep blues, teals and purples. Still needs more. Am considering using the new lighted seam ripper to open the corners and insert lime batik for snowball blocks in the darkest areas. Hate to rip, but this new gadget may make it easier.
Our squash are prolific. Baked a sweetmeat this afternoon for dinner with roasted chicken. Will have much to freeze. DH agreed to build a raised bed for raspberries. Want to plant them, strawberries and blueberries this fall so they will bear next summer. The landscaper said they would take over, so hoping beds will contain them. Do love living in a great gardening area. If only I could find a quilt group. Thank God for this group!
Plans fell thru for a nephew to visit this weekend. He and his wife are squabbling; glad they decided not to come under the circumstances. My sis says the wife is controlling and manipulative - sad. Her mom went thru 6 marriages and let her parents raise her kids. Hope they can resolve their problems. Too bad they didn't before the baby came. Such is life.
The corner of packed items for AZ is growing. Mostly summer clothing and quilt projects. Come to think of it, not much else is important.
Blessings,
MJ

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Aneita Renfroe

Doris:
That is from her video, she is a "speaker" on the Women for Christ" circuit. Still having trouble with the "c" key and others on this little bitty laptop.
Anna in Spain- What you are going through is what is being talked about as "Hillary Care" here in the USA. Universal health care. Only Hillary doesn't know it's universal bad health care. The lowest common denominator for all. OK, no flames please.
Worked on a baby quilt this morning. Will try to use to fleece on one tonight. I'm going to try to get a few made to keep on hand. After all I have all that fabric well aged in the drawers.
"It makes me happy" is the only reason I need.
If anyone out there listens to country music, I just heard Leanne Rimes' newest--nothing better to do. Very catchy.
Will have to buy the CD when it hits the stores. I think next week, Yikes--it's almost October.
Sara in Fla.

Apparently the ability to "link" is no longer available

.... so here is the website to the cute video and you can copy & paste...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_oc1j5NakY

Doris W. (still) in TN

Cute "Mom" video for us girls

Checking in briefly. I'm so busy these days I don't know what day of the week it is. Nonetheless, a friend sent me this link (below) and it is tooo funny:

I could soooo relate.

Hugs to everyone,

Doris W. in TN

anna update

Well, what can I tell you. I went to the specialist, and I think the endocrinologist was the same rude woman I got 15 yrs ago. But she was rude to all her patients, not just me. Her first statement was: "Anything you say, I'm going to tell you it's not your thyroid." Great. As far as she's concerned it's all normal, and no, my cholesterol isn't too high. And no, it's not my thyroid. "Lose a few kilos, girl." I got the distinct impression I'm just lazy and sit on my backside. BUT--then why did she order another blood test for antibodies?

DH went with me and agrees she was rude and unpleasant. We were there for all of about 10 minutes. She did ask if I had trouble swallowing and when I said yes, she acted so surprised! How can that be? After all, it's not my thyroid, right? She said the same sort of thing to the 2 patients who went in ahead of me…so I think she’s just got an attitude. They drew some more blood and I got my appointment to see the endocrinologist again (the same nasty one). It's for the 22nd of October!! Since they send her directly the results of the test, I don't know if she will look at it and say, "Oh no big deal," or what. Jose says he is going to ask her for a copy. If she says no, he may make a fuss.

In any case, I will continue to take the small dose of thyroxine that the GP gave me, and if I run out before the appointment I will go back to the GP and ask for another prescription. It’s helping anyway.

I wonder if there's anything I could do diet-wise to help this. Since Wednesday last I have been walking by myself an hour, at my own (faster) pace, and walkies with DH are extra. (He tends to saunter, instead of walking). I've gained 3/4 lb but whenever I start walking again after a hiatus I notice a small gain. I wish I had a pedometer. They have them, if I get some classes I may just save up for one.

I’m glad DH went with me so he could see it wasn’t just me being paranoid, she really did ignore me. Every time I tried to talk to her about symptoms and problems she would interrupt me and talk to her nurse about something else, or just say, “That’s normal, it’s not your thyroid.” If we don’t get any joy on the 22nd DH says he will take me to a paid clinic. I worked hard this summer, I can afford (?) it. So far I have 2 hrs a week slated, and there should be more. And I haven’t hung up flyers yet. This summer’s students have had a good pass rate, including a couple that I frankly expected to fail!

Quilting…not so much. Life is getting better since it got cooler and we’ve had some rain storms. If I were a millionaire I’d buy a house in France and one in NZ and never see summer again, just fly from autumn to autumn!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

this & that

Finally a bit of cooler weather here in n.e.Florida. I've been sitting outside for the last hour, drinking coffee, the all day headach finally has gone away.
Don't know if it was the caf. or the fresh air or a combo of both. It's so nice to have a breeze that isn't hot.
The computer finally died again. I'm on DH's lap top, and the print is very tiney.
Just checking in. I was going to spend the day quilting with a GF, but wound up watching BBC America and naping on the couch.
The vein surgery went well, I had the 1 week check up yesterday. Think I was trying to do too much too soon, and my body told me to slow down today.
Going back out into the sunshine.
Sara in Fla.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

slow connections...

It takes an age for me to "get connected" , which is , sadly, a bit of a turn off for me as I run the very real risk of forgetting what it was that I wanted to comment on....

Not so this morning. Thank you Jane and Rosey for your posts. I was very interested to read all that you had to say. The pain of being close to those with mental problems is very real . Jane, you have taken the only path open to you. It was a sad day when the psychiatric services in the Western world decided that the best way to "treat" those with mental illness was to 'rehabilitate' them into society... It worked well for some but for the great majority it has brought about untold hardship, pain and, some cases, degradation, not just for the patient but for the family and friends too.

Spring has sprung down here and I have been busy in the garden. My enthusiasm won't last but I always enjoy the first few sessions in the garden and the joy of seeing the plants revive and the promise of summer flowers...

DH and I have been busy working out how to visit Israel next March, when we are due for a return trip to Scotland. We thought it would be easy to stop off there but, not so. Seems a better idea to go to Scotland first and then take a trip from there. I've always wanted to visit. It's a fascinating country with a rich historical, religious and political history. Any tips from any of you who have been there would be welcome..

Enjoy the day.
Marion.

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT

Rosey, your understanding means a great deal to me. It is probably obvious that I do feel guilt about severing that particular relationship and getting such understanding from one who has been there in a much larger capacity than I is helpful. Once I posted yesterday I anticipated disapproval from many readers and probably that has happened but somehow I had to say it anyway. With my history in intense criminal defense work in the law and many a civil commitment hearing, believe me, I've seen the worst of it and have also seen the terrible effect on family and friends. You are right, not only do those who suffer end up living under bridges but, sadly, that is something that they, in their distorted perception of reality, sometimes choose to do. Unfortunately, since mental health treatment is allegedly to occur in the local community which system in NC is close to non existent, it doesn't happen at all. That movement was just a cost cutting move on the part of the states allowing them to close hospitals and dumping on the counties. Repeatedly I saw someone, completely psychotic with schizophrenia committed to a state hospital (in FL) and back on the street, sleeping under the same bridge, within 90 days. This person would get weird in a public place and be taken by the more humane police right back to the local crisis unit to repeat the cycle. That was the lucky one. If the officer was less sensitive or if the sufferer acted in a frightening enough way, dissed the cop, or in a few cases was violent they went to jail and then sorting it out was almost impossible. I repeatedly tried to get a pristine prosecutor to the jail to see my poor hallucinating client in the medical section of the jail ranting about "they are spying on me from there", pointing at the ceiling light and heating fixture in the ceiling. They were often clutching at their paper shirt and pants because they had their clothes taken as a precaution against suicide. The prosecutors always recoiled at the idea. The joke around here in NC is if you are going to be crazy you'd better go somewhere else to do it. National Association for the Mentally Ill rates NC 47th on the list of the 50 states in the quality and accessibility of care. Fortunately, my friend does have some coverage as she is totally disabled with physical as well as psychiatric diagnosis but still has to go to Asheville for help.

Now that I got that off my chest and myself off my soap box I'll have breakfast and get on with my day. Still a bit foggy but that will burn off soon and it will be too hot and humid to get up the mountain with Shadow. Fall flowers are here and some almost gone. Joe Pye weed, various asters, goldenrod to name a few. None are as prolific as normal due to our drought conditions. Those who still have grass are seeing green from a single heavy rainfall over the 14th. I see a lot of bare patches in my yard. When rain resumes I will replant myself. I've paid others several times to see occasional improvement. I'll hire someone to rough up the clay and I'll spread fertilizer, lime and some fescue seed which is used in pastures here. It's tough and drought resistant.

Jane in NC

Slow Speed Posting

Jane, this is what holds me back from posting as I often don't have the time to wait the few minutes it takes to download my entry being on slow speed service here in the country. However, the new system works and I don't know how Sue and Eric had the patience to put up with the public site for as long as they did. This is so much better but it does slow the process of an instant response down.

You've described the 'other side' of mental illness very well and you've made the only decision that you could for yourself. Your friend's husband will have a special place prepared for him 'in heaven', that's for sure. And also, as you say, your friend would not have asked for this illness any more than her family and friends would ask to live with it and support her in it. There comes a time with mental illness when the family (and friends) need to protect themselves and preserve their own sanity and energy, otherwise, they are of no help to the mentally ill person. Detaching is, when it's a loved one, very hard to do. Speaking from experience, I can say that I tried very hard to be there for the person in my life who suffered from mental illness but, like you, Jane, I had to cut out emotionally over time or I would have gone over the edge myself. It's why people who suffer from mental illness end up living alone. They can drain their families and drain their friends emotionally and unbelievably if you haven't been there yourself. It's more a tragedy for those trying to support the person with the illness than for them, I believe, for the sufferer is often unaware of the extent of their illness and are, by then, in a world of their own. Mental illness makes for self-centeredness as well. The illness becomes them in the end; it's hard to separate the two. Your friend now needs professional support and care. The family needs to preserve their own selves now, including you, Jane, as a good friend to the woman, as I know you've been.

The wind came up over night and I've awoken to fresh breezes coming through the open windows but they also feel like they are carrying rain. The weatherman says not until tonight but I can feel the moisture in the air. Our grass has now turned green, thankfully but we need so much more rain than we've had that our water tables will be very low and we all live on wells here in the country.

Tomorrow begins the on-site preparations for the Wit's End Horse Trials and will involve my energy until Sunday, along with B&B guests here for the event, plus friend Margaret, whom some of you met while here at the retreat. She is coming up from the city to volunteer as well. The weather promises to be good. And Bo Derek is expected at the event over the week-end. When I mentioned this to minister friend, Penny, she said: oh, is that the name of a horse? Imagine that...well, she said, sometimes people name their horses after famous people. My guess is that Ms. Derek might find that hilarious given how beautiful she is. I'm not likely to see her as I'm out on the cross country course the day she is expected, otherwise, I'm working in the hospitality tent, where she is expected...too bad. Googling her, she is still a very beautiful woman. (I won't stand beside her if I meet her...lol...the grey hair, sagging boobs and fluffy waistline show a definite decline with age).

Rosey

Monday, September 24, 2007

Where Is Everybody?

Hi, Jane here with great news. As of Thursday's WW meeting I am down 15.2 lbs in the 7 weeks I've been participating. Since vigorous exercise allows one to eat more humanely I'm also stronger and more aerobically fit. I'd like to lose at least another 15# and if I do I shall shoot for 5# increments until satisfied. Sadly and stupidly I did binge late last night. Haven't done that since I started the program. Oh well, this morning I'm back at it with a sensible breakfast and before that a short but seriously uphill hike down hill to my mailbox which is almost a half mile. Coming back up is a looooong quarter mile which involves panting and having to remove the outer layer of clothing, in this case a sweat shirt.

I have also reduced my stress level by about 97.623% by disengaging from a relationship with a seriously bipolar woman whom I befriended a few years ago. Despite active treatment she got worse and worse in the past six months and she had become very dependent on me. I was literally losing sleep with the feelings of rage about her dominance over my time and emotional stamina. It became clear to me that I wasn't helping her but the situation was, well, sucking me dry. I finally wrote her a letter one midnight when I was, once again unable to sleep because of this whole scene, telling her this as gently as possible. My chronic anger was more about feeling trapped than it was truly at her. She can't help her sickness nor can I. If I could help her I would. I have heard that she has been hospitalized for the second time in two years since then. I hope so. Her husband, bless him, tells me he understands my position completely and the last time we spoke before the severance of the relationship he intended to ask the doc to hospitalize her as she was getting closer and closer to harming him or someone else. Throwing furniture had become her response to whatever. Poor thing, she and everyone else around her suffer. Did I say all this in a previous post? I apologize if so. Actually, what I am saying is that while I'm not completely free of her influence on my mood it has improved immeasurably and I've been truly enjoying life recently in a way I don't remember doing in many years.

Got a charity quilt done this weekend. We bring scraps to the chair of the outreach committee who relishes the job of grouping fabrics and batting is donated for the jobs and there are some fantastic ones coming out of the project. Mine, however, fails to meet that standard. The entire thing is made up of ugly bubble gum pink blocks and really ugly over cooked pea (canned) green only lighter. The blocks were already cut when they came to us. The back is non descript but hardly attractive. I just alternated the colors. The batting provided was extra loft poly(donated). Silly girl that I am thought I'd machine quilt (should have tied). Additionally, I tried to do it in bias lines across the blocks. It was a disaster so I went out to a Wally World about 35 miles away where they still have a sewing dept. and bought some really cheap so called "traditional" poly batting, picked out the previous quilting and started over again. By that time some of the blocks were distorted from the bias sewing even with the even feed foot and decided that I wasn't going to spend any more time on it and it would just get more distorted. I resorted to some of my own repro fabric in a more pleasing depression green for binding. Glad to get that behind me and return to the boys' Christmas quilts. There will be weeks of cutting on the seam allowances and time's awastin'.

DB will come visit once his pooch is released from vet ortho surgeon in a few weeks. He wants to help me with chores and has offered to bring his chain saw. Chain saws abound here and I gave Al's to a neighbor with borrow back (with man attached) privileges. I have a gas log and don't need that kind of help but since his hands show no signs of arthritis I'll put him to work on the seam allowances. Ha, little does he know. Right now though, the weather is perfect for asettin' on the porch and that's a good plan for such chores. Maybe I'll spring for another pair of those special scissors and we can commune and reminisce over the seam allowances.

Well, time to get working on a Joleen block. I set the fabric out last night.

Cheerful in the mountains
Jane

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