Good morning to you all! Another chilly morning here, but it is supposed to be warming up into the 60's soon.

I sat early this morning and watched a 1930's black and white movie about the beginnings of West Point. I am not much into military movies, but it was interesting. I never knew that the true beginnings involved battles in Indiana with the Indians. Much of Indiana was indian country, some violent some not, but Fort Wayne was an original fort during the early wars as was Fort Harrison, which is farther south. Anyway, it was interesting having them talk about places in Indiana that still exist today.

Jean: Are you getting excited about going to Hawaii next month? You can get away from the cold while the rest of us freeze. Get a nice tan to take home with you! Sounds like you are going to have lots of little kitties. Hopefully the mamas can hide the kittens so cat hater doesn't find them because I imagine he would drowned them or something. The handbag was a total loss. The bottom was very long like a large handbag, but the sides shrank to about 3 inches. It looks like a big flat bottomed tray so I fooled with it, but couldn't do anything with it at all. My new stuff should be here today. I have the blue one about half way finished so everything is coming along with them both.

I have another surgical appt on Tues, but I am coming along fine except a bump here and there. I had to remove my incision bandage yesterday and a large amount of scabbing fell off so it is doing really well. It is even now with the rest of my skin and is just a huge scab pretty much. Jack continues to doctor it so that it will heal without the scab ripping or something. We are still using that wound spray to keep it moist somewhat. I imagine the doctor will be happy with it. It will then be just a wait and see for awhile before he starts my testing to see if everything is healed inside enough to connect everything up.

I better get my morning chores done. Have a good weekend everyone!

Faye

Good morning, ladies! We back into the balmy 40s today but expect to see the low 70s early next week. I'm ready! The gas bill is astronomical. Stan is always so cold we keep the thermostat on 74 degrees and I sweat. Even at that he has a sweater on over his clothes and wraps up in a quilt.

Faye, sorry about the handbag. I know it's a disappointment when a project doesn't turn out. Glad you are healing. I know the day for the reconnection can't come soon enough for you.

Jean, I think all the attention is on Iowa because it is the first state to have the caucaus. We are having our primary in February - 1st time! The republicans always had a primary in June but the Democrats just sent delegates to a convention in Richmond and they did the voting. I am extremely happy to see Hillary Clinton come in 3rd by a goodly amount.

My boss gave me a framed Italian black on ecru embrodiery for Christmas and a counted cross stitch piece (Christmas stuff) that is on dark ecru linen - very tiny stitching so I guess I'll have to bring out the magnifying glass I have that hangs around my neck. Fortunately I have good light because of the quilting. He got the kit in France. The directions are in French, German, Spanish and what I think is supposed to be British English but the person translating didn't do a very good job. It's kind of funny in a way. It'll be a nice carry-along to work on at the dialysis center and doctors' offices, etc.

So far I'm doing a good job getting back on my diet. It really wasn't that hard - and I feel so much better when I eat right. I do have trouble getting enough water in the cold weather - then I thought about hot lemonade so I heated up some water, added a few slices of lemon and that was very refreshing.

Have a good evening!

+

Good morning to you all! Hope your weekend is starting out nicely. It didn't seem as cold this morning when I let Fortune out but still pretty chilly.

Jean: Sounds like you have a nice storm brewing with those two teachers. When you said what you did about the spec ed teacher I thought of my sister. My sister had to deal with a bad situation with a nephew of her husband's that was living with them from April until he went home to visit for Christmas and my sister and dh wouldn't let him come back. This kid was trouble from the get go. He lied, was using and selling drugs up until the time they sent him home and they didn't know it, could manipulate anyone and he sure did the school psych. The psych eval came back on him saying he tried to please everyone blah, blah, blah and it was total bologna. The kid was snotty, obnoxious, lazy, and sneaky. He total bamboozled this feel good child psychologist. Many a day my sister would call me crying because of how he treated and talked to her and her dh was convinced the kid was "misunderstood." The boy hates women and treats them that way. His mom is a druggie practically on deaths door, but the boy was living with his father, step mother and half siblings I guess. I am not sure anything he told them was true about his life. Anyway, my point was this love them with no boundaries crap simply doesn't work. Well, first off, the pattern I used called for large needles, secondly the yarn I used felts fast so the combination made it just not work. I even tried cutting it and then sewing it into a shape, but it just wasn't to be.

Susan: I had to quit doing cross-stitch because of having difficulty seeing tiny stitches so I feel for you. I am sure it will be beautiful when you are finished. I take the handbag thing with a grain of salt. I just wish the yarn had been cheaper. Since my operation, I get cold a lot. I don't know what is with that, but I still have to have a small fan blow on my head or I end up with a head of sweat. It is kind of comical all covered up to the chin, but the fan blowing away on my head. This old condo is drafty so during the cold days that has any wind, I have to turn our thermostat up. We are all electric and our bills haven't been too bad, but then it hasn't been bitter cold either.

What my dr said about going back in was that the whole area had to heal well and that would take 6-8 months, which would be end of April to June. He told me they would go and do another catscan and I think sonogram before they would operate again to make sure it was all healed. I still have a few months to go.

I guess I better get back to knitting on the bag. I got the other yarn yesterday. The color was darker than I expected but it is going to have to do this time around.

Have a fun weekend!
Faye