Finding a Balance

I've been too busy with work to do anything crafty for the past week ... and there's no end in sight. Honey and I have worked at home for 14 years. That entire time we have struggled to find a balance between work life and home life, and we've never quite been able to manage it. Sometimes it's hard not to be resentful, and I have to remind myself that even though I never get a sick day, a vacation day, or a holiday there are advantages to working at home. I can work in my pajamas if I want to. I can work when I want to, as long as I meet my deadlines. I was able to be at home for my kids when they were growing up. We were able to bring my ailing mother to live with us and care for her during her last days, surrounded by those who loved her, instead of being cared for by strangers. I was able to pack up my work and take it with me so I could be with my sister during her long illness. It's allowed me a lot of flexibility that I wouldn't have had in a 9 to 5 job. But I've certainly paid a price for that. Work still tends to take over my life at times and I don't really know how not to let it. This is one of those times!!

I've been laid low by killer headaches the last week, and it seems like all I've done is work and sleep. My blood sugar is way up, a function of stress, and being so busy I'm eating whatever is handy instead of what is good for me, the low humidity in teh house is giving me nosebleeds, my shoulders and hands are sore from long hours at the keyboard ... and I'm just not a very happy camper!!

All this is my way of explaining why I have no finishes to post, no pictures of new projects. In my blog hopping, I see so many sew alongs, BOMs, challenges and swaps that I would just love to get involved in. But I know I can't commit the time right now ...so I have to pass. And that makes me sad.

Life hasn't been ALL work, exactly. Honey and I went out for dinner on Friday with the Big Guy and KT to a Japanese grill and sushi bar. It's one of those places where you sit around the grill and the chef cooks your dinner right in front of you, flourishing knives, and bottles of oil and sauce, and spatulas all the while. I had sushi for the first time, under the guidance of my daughter-in-law. I quite enjoyed it. I had what she referred to as "beginner" sushi ... California rolls with tuna and soft shelled crab. I had steak and shrimp for dinner ... it was delicious, and I really enjoyed it!!

On Saturday I had to work, but I did manage to take a few breaks here and there and cook.

I made Ina Garten's recipe for Parker's Split Pea Soup. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's the first recipe for split pea soup I've ever seen that didn't have ham or bacon it it .. but this one has no meat. With oregano, carrots and red skin potatoes, unpeeled), its a rustic, hearty soup that just cries out for some crusty home made bread. So I made some of that too. Since Honey doesn't care for pea soup, I made some chicken noodle for him.

The fruits of my labor on Saturday ... pea soup and chicken noodle soup for the freezer, and three loaves of bread.

I thought my week was off to a bad start on Monday when I was fixing my breakfast and absent mindedly dumped coffee creamer in my Egg Beaters instead of in my coffee cup. Things went downhill from there .. until I got the mail and received this darling little quilt from my Swap Til You Drop partner for February. It's paper pieced .. isn't it cute!!

She included some nice goodies too .. some notes, embroidery floss, and Ugly Fabric, although I don't think it's ugly ... exactly!!

So, today is Tuesday. This morning I'm working on lightening my workload so I can have my life back, and it's going to be a better day ... I just know it!!! It's Fat Tuesday, and I'm going to forego the paczkis this year in an effort to keep the blood sugar out of the stratosphere.

Hope you all have a great one.

Terri

Monday, Monday ...

I spent some time in my sewing room this weekend. I finished the top of the baby quilt I'm making for my newest great nephew. I did a combination of 9 patch and snowball blocks in a blue and yellow pin dot fabric. It was fun to piece and went pretty quickly.
I finished my paper pieced swap quilt for the February Swap Til U Drop. This was made all from scraps and I like it so much, I'm going to do another one for me to keep. It was a lot of fun to make. I'm still a newbie at paper piecing and I wanted something a little more challenging, but not too much. This fit the bill perfectly!!
Last, but not least, I made some 9 patch blocks from two Moda Cotton Blossom charm packs I bought a few weeks ago. I'm going to cut them into quarters to make smaller blocks and piece them together randomly and see what I get!! I'll be posting more pictures of this project as it evolves, I'm sure.
I had a great weekend. We had some record high temperatures here for a few days. It got up to 60 degrees one day. That's unheard of for February in Michigan. All the snow melted, the sun was shining, and it was a much-needed respite from the winter. We did get a little snow Saturday, but the sun was out a lot over the weekend. We have a winter storm warning in the forecast for tonight though, so by tomorrow morning winter will be back with a vengeance, but right now, the sun is shining and I'm going to enjoy every bit of it for as long as it lasts!!

I went to dinner with one of my oldest friends on Friday. She works nights and I work days, and it seemed like we never had a chance to get together. We go to the same hairdresser and a couple of years ago, we started making our appointments on the same day, and then we go out for dinner afterwards. It's a guaranteed way for us to get together regularly and have a nice long visit.

This week shouldn't be quite so busy for work. I sure hope not anyway. I need to do some catch up around the house before it falls down around my ears!!

I've been having some problems with my computer and somehow, my entire Inbox in my e-mail program got wiped out. So if you've commented on my blog, I usually respond, especially to new visitors, but I've lost all your e-mail addresses. Thanks for visiting, and please leave another comment, so I can find you again!!

Have a great day.

Terri

Eight Random Things

I've been so busy this week with work, that I don't have anything crafty to post. So instead, I'm going to post 8 Random Things About Me that you might not know.

1. I'm 56 years old and not afraid to say so.

2. I have been married for 35 years to my college sweetheart.

3. For two weeks every year my older brother and I are the same age.

4. I played the French Horn for 6 years in school.

5. I've worked from my home as a medical transcriptionist for 14 years.

6. Two of my sons will be married to girls named Katie.

7. I can't wait to be a grandmother!!

8. I collected dolls for a while, until I ran out of room to display them!!

So there you go. Useless facts about me!!

Hope you all had a great week. I sure am looking forward to the weekend.

Terri

Sweet Dreams

My sleep study went well. Coincidentally, my study was on February 3, which marked one month smoke-free for me. I dont' know if it had anything to do with it, but the pressure settings on my C-Pap machine were lowered, AND I didn't need supplemental oxygen. I've used oxygen at night for 2 years because my blood oxygen levels took a nose dive when I sleep. Apparently, they stay in the normal range now, so I'm certainly happy about that!! I also got a new mask out of the deal, which I like much better than the one I've been using!!

Haven't had much time to sew, though. All I managed to get to this week was some mending for my daughter-in-law, and I worked on the mini-quilt for the February swap for Swap Til U Drop (STUD). The theme this month is paper piecing. I've only done a little bit of paper piecing and they were simple blocks, so I chose something a little more challenging this time. It's going well, but I have to really pay attention to what I'm doing. I'm itching to get back in the sewing room. This is going to be a realy busy week with work, so I don't know how much crafting time I'll have.

On a cheery note, we had record high temperatures yesterday and are looking for more of the same today. The sun is shining, a lot of our snow has melted and my animals are enjoying being able to be outdoors for more than a few minutes. More cold weather and snow is on the way, but this has been a nice and much needed break from winter!!

Hope you all have a great day!!

Terri

A New Project and other Stuff

I started the quilt for my new great nephew this week. I got a few blocks done on Sunday. I have about 1/3 of them finished. I took the advice of a fellow blogger who told me this is my hobby and it's somethine I should enjoy doing, and that I DON'T have to finish all my other projects before I start something new!!



I received this cute little quilt in the mail from my partner for the January Swap Til U Drop. The theme for this month was Sing It, Watch It, Read It. There were some really outstanding quilts submitted for this theme. You can check them out at the groups Flickr phot stream here

Here's the one I sent to her. It's sort of self explanatory!!


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Busy, busy day today so I'd better get back to work. I get to spend the night at the hospital tonight having a sleep study. Fun and more fun! Trying to have sweet dreams with wires attached to you everywhere!!

Have a good day!!

Terri

An Award Bestowed

I received this award from Shari at Mumsyblossom's World a couple of weeks ago. I've been so busy that I've been blogging on the fly when I have a few minutes here and there, and I haven't had time to figure out how to post it here. (I'm really not very good at this yet.) I'm ashamed that it's taken me so long ... but finally ... here it is! Thank you Shari and my apologies for the delay in acknowledging it.

The meaning of this award:
This blog invests and believes in Proximity- nearness in space, time and relationships.
These blogs are exceedingly charming.
These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends .
They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement!
Our hope is that when the ribbon of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.
I'm supposed to pass this award on to fellow bloggers, to include the above text in their blog. Since I'm a fairly new blogger, I don't have much of a readership yet, and it seems that those who follow my blog have already received this award.

So, if you're reading this, and you haven't received this yet, consider yourself chosen and feel free to post it on your blog.

Thank you all for being a part of my day!! You can't imagine how much it has meant to me making new friends from all over the world!!

Terri