Treasures

Growing up, my brother and I spent a lot of time at our great-grandma's house.  Ma-ma was terrific.  We enjoyed going to her house so much, and luckily she lived on the next street over, so we were able to walk there pretty much whenever we wanted (which was often).  I'm sure she got sick of us from time to time because we weren't always the most well-behaved children- we were pretty ornery!  Take the time we found an industrial-sized spool of twine and wound it around every possible post and table leg in the basement while she took a nap.  We were quite proud of our spider web.  She on the other hand, was not, and promptly proceeded to grab a pair of scissors and cut it apart.

We weren't always little hell-raisers.  We often liked to build houses out of chairs and blankets, and when we did this, we always made a little warehouse between the two living room chairs.  Seth would set about collecting every kleenex box in the house, while I collected her silk scarves and zippers (yes, zippers).  We would then neatly stock them in our warehouse while we played.  Over time, those zippers became very precious to me.

My Ma-ma was a seamstress.  If there was ever something that needed sewn, hemmed or a stain removed, Ma-ma did it.  She worked for many years at the Princess Peggy Dress Factory in town and was even crowned Princess Peggy.  When she got her first paycheck, she went straight to town, bought fabric, then went home and drew up her own pattern on newspaper.  She sewed all of her kids' clothes, and would often be up until the wee hours of Easter morning sewing their new church clothes.  To say that she was dedicated is an understatement. 

During all of the times we were at her house, I witnessed her sewing and love for it.  It fascinated me.  I would spend hours playing with the thousands of buttons she had, carefully sorting them out.  And of course, I loved all of the zippers, too!  Today, I have all of those zippers- probably 20+.  I also have those thousands of buttons carefully stored in a tote.  I still love to just run my hands through them.  They smell the same as they did back then, and it brings me back.  The other day, Kate and I were looking through those buttons, and zipping and unzipping the zippers just as I did back then.

When I set up my sewing nook, I knew I wanted to display some of Ma-ma's notions.  I have them in a tall jar (and yes, some are a few of her zippers), and have her vintage thread spools in a candy dish.  This past Sunday, my mom gave me more of Ma-ma's things- a spool holder and packs of pins and sewing needles.  She knew I'd appreciate them, and I'm so thankful to have more of her things.

 

Ma-ma is the inspiration behind my sewing.  It's why I do it- to honor her and uphold a legacy.  She's been gone 21 years now, and I still miss her terribly.  Sometimes when I'm sewing something tricky or am just frustrated with a project, I'll say, "Ma-ma, I need your help," and somehow I'm able to figure it out right away.  I know she's watching me and I hope she's proud of me for honoring her.  She was a fabulous woman!

And again, his ears can hear, my dear

Friday morning was Preston's surgery and it went perfectly!  He's such a trooper.  There were no tears this time, which really shows how he's matured.

We had an 8:15 report time and you never know how long you're going to wait.  The third time, we waited an hour and a half in pre-op before they took him back.  The second time, he was in surgery 15 minutes after we walked in the door.  This time, we were still in the waiting room at 8:45 when I heard them call our name.  We go back, they weigh him, and his nurse said, "Hop up on the bed, Zander."  Zander????  It was one of those Homer Simpson "doh" moments where I wanted to hide, but simultaneously realized that I really need to have my hearing checked.  After apologizing, they graciously let him hop up on the next bed and didn't send us back out to wait.  That's one way to get in faster!  At 9:30, Dr. S came in and asked Preston if we'd done this before.  We chatted for a few minutes before we walked him off.

Thankfully, surgery only lasted 15 minutes and we were in to talk with Dr. S.  His right eardrum was thick and inflamed.  The left still had the tube in it (although I was told it was out at our last appt.) and it was crusted over and had fluid and some fungus- lovely.  All this while he was on day 10 of his antibiotics.  Dr. S said that when he's old and can't do anything but sit on his porch, he'll remember and think about Preston.  He said he's seen us through so much that he's like family.  That's comforting, and why we love Dr. S so much.

When the nurse came back to take us to see him after recovery, she said he was already telling her that he could tell a difference in his ears!  He was only in post-op for maybe 15 minutes before they discharged him.  It was kind of humorous when the nurse was reading his discharge info and I was thinking, we've been here so many time I know this stuff back and forth. and the nurse finished and said, "You guys are probably thinking, I know all of this already, just get on with it!"  We're seasoned pros when it comes to Same Day Surgery!  It was our fifth time there- once with Kate, 4 times with Preston.

So far, he's doing really well!  He HATES getting his drops, as usual, and he has to have them 5 days instead of 3 since his ears weren't clear, so he's not happy about that.  I'm not thrilled with his hearing, though, and my grandpa commented on it yesterday.  It'll be something to address at his post-op appt.  Hopefully we see an improvement between now and then.

Long time gone

It's been a long time since I blogged!  I've been extremely busy lately and I find that updating on Twitter is a lot quicker and easier.  Feel free to follow me if you want more up to date happenings!

Where to begin, even!  First off, my mom got married last month.  Totally surprised us all.  She had told me that she and Bill had been talking about it one Sunday.  It wasn't 5 days later that they were hitched.  I hadn't had time to even wrap my head around it when she told me, so it's taken a while to get used to!  We're happy for them, though, and that's all that matters!  The weekend of my birthday we were supposed to have an open house for them, but a freak spring snow came along and dropped over 9 inches on our little town (some got 12), so that cancelled the party.  It was snowing so hard with the thunder snow that you couldn't see and it was accumulating at around 2 inches an hour, so the roads just weren't safe to be on.  The kids even got a snow day out of it!  Let me tell you, it's quite strange to color eggs and have hot cocoa with Bunny Mallows on a snow day!  The kids enjoyed being outside, too. 

We've had kittens galore around the farm lately which delights the kids to no end.  They LOVE kittens!  Pepper had her 1st litter and had 4 black cats- John, Paul, George and Ringo.  Unfortunately, Pepper sat on two, and George and John are no longer with us.  Here's Paul and Ringo.

Then Oreo had another litter.  Oreo is Nonnie's sister, Pepper is Oreo's daughter.  They're all related, which explains why they're always either all black or tuxedoes like Nonnie.  We've yet to name these kittens aside from Socks.

I've been crazy busy sewing lately with a couple orders.  I love it, and always have another project I'm itching to start.  I've got a purse pattern ready to go as soon as I can get my hands on some interfacing.  It's driving me crazy that no one around here carries it!  Here's a few of my latest creations.  You can find them in my shop.

This weekend is Kate's 14th birthday.  How in the world did this happen?  Still can't wrap my head around it.  We have the first of her parties this Saturday and I need to get on the ball and get ready.  It will be here before we know it!

Friday morning Preston will be getting his 4th set of tubes.  I knew it was coming after the ordeal we went through in February, and after last week, I'm SO glad he's getting more!  He spent the entire spring break last week running a 102 temp with tonsilitis, and then got an ear infection...  The poor thing was MISERABLE!  He didn't eat for 3 days.  Finally on Wednesday I offered to buy him anything he wanted if he would just eat something.  He wanted doughnuts, so doughnuts he got!  He only ate 2 minis, but it perked him up some.  His tonsils were so enlarged that they were touching and it just hurt so much that he refused to eat.  I have a strange feeling that he's on the same track Kate took because this is exactly what happened to her not long after she got strep and she spent 4 months with tonsilitis continuously before we could get a referral to the ENT.  Praying we're not back in a few months to have his taken out, especially when we'd have to pay for yet another round at the hospital instead of doing it all at once.  We shall see, I guess!  Wish us luck!