Ugh

Sorry I haven't posted.  I have been sick since Tuesday about 5 PM. My tummy is very unhappy and that's enough said about that.

Let me tell you about this past weekend.  My sister stayed with me while our mother was in Florida visiting friends. Things went well; we got a lot of stuff done, including rearranging my room.  Lemme tell ya, that was NO picnic.  You see, the kitty pulled down the curtain over the window behind my desk.  BEHIND the desk.  The only way to get to the window was to move the desk.  Did I mention my crafting table was up against my desk?  So, had to move the serger, the sewing machine and the embroidery machine off the table, then all the assorted crap also on the table, not to mention the stuff that was stored beneath the table.  Then had to unload the desk.  So now it looks like a whirlwind has been through.  Twice.   At least.  Ok, we get the desk moved and it's really really wobbly, so I get down in the floor under it and discover that some of the screws to hold it together are missing.  Now to go find a screwdriver and screws.  Found.  Back under the table. Hmmmmmm the electric screwdriver doesn't seem to be screwing the screw in.  Go find a rachet screwdriver. Success!!  Then to get the stepladder behind the desk and get the curtain back up.  YAY.  NOW let's move all this stuff back.  Well, we got the desk moved back and the sewing/crafting table moved back, and got the stuff back in/on the desk (more neatly organized this time, I might add). However, all the machines are still on the other side of the room along with the assorted crap to go on the table.  Fast forward  to Tuesday when we go to the airport to pick up the Mumster and have lunch at Red Robin.  Tuesday evening, said tummy starts acting up. Uh oh.

Now let me tell you about Saturday night.  I go out on the porch to give the kitties their bedtime snack, and they're munching away, and I sat down to watch the baby kittens in their box.  Suddenly I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked and there is a SKUNK coming up on the porch.  I was going OH my God OH my God OH my God!  Who expects a skunk to show up? Especially in such a brazen manner.  You've never seen a fat girl move so fast in your life.  I swear I had spring in my underwear and wings on my feet.  I flew inside.  The skunk meanwhile moseys over to the kitties' bowl and proceed to help himself.  One of the half grown cats takes exception to this and smacks the skunk, who responds by raising his tail and making it really bushy.  He lowered his tail after a few seconds and another cat takes a swipe at him.  POOF, tail up and bushy again.  It was at this point that I just shut the door and went back into my room.

So between skunk fright and tummy troubles, I've done nothing this week.  Sure hope I feel better tomorrow.

I haven't even checked on the orcs and trolls. I bet they're taken over by now.

Til later,
Morado

Start of a new week

Here we are, Monday already.  Today was D Day, of course.  I seem to have slept through a lot of it for some reason.  Ok, I always sleep SOME during treatment but I seemed to sleep though MOST of it today.  Then my BP dropped.  I so hate that.  Regular dialysis just makes me a bit tired but when my BP drops, I feel totally wrung out.  Not a fun feeling.

Tonight was the premier of Dancing With The Stars All Stars.  I don't know yet who I'm going to pull for.  I really like Mark Ballas for the pros but I'm not real crazy about Bristol Palin. I think they could have given Mark a better partner.  And they gave Tristan McManus Pamela Anderson as a partner! WHAT were they thinking.  I'm afraid Tristan will be gone tomorrow night after the first elimination.

I have to give the lowdown about my weekend but it will have to wait until tomorrow when I feel better.  Helen and I are making progress, though, with our business plans.  We have a website and Bob is working on that for us.  We've got several of the graphics made up and I think we're making great progress.

And now, I'm going to fall into my bed with a bag of Cheetos with the remote and drift off to sleep to the sounds of The Golden Girls.

Til later,
Morado

Insert creative title here

Good evening, fellow babies! (Anybody remember Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP In Cincinnati?)  Today was Funtown day and it went well.  Except apparently my blood pressure dropped while I was asleep. Excitement at Funtown today - we had a fire drill.  Complete with setting off the alarm.  The best part, the alarm scared the crap of the doctor and she jumped about 4 feet straight up.  Actually, the best part of Funtown is chatting with Carol, talking about our crafts and whatever else crosses our minds.  She's dying flour sack towels and they are turning out beautifully.  I'd like to do that, too, but I've got plenty on my plate crafting-wise at the moment.

I'm not feeling real creative tonight but I promised myself I will at least post every other day.  So I'm already behind cause I haven't posted since Sunday.  Sigh.  I can think of all kinds of things I want to say when I'm not at the computer but when I sit in front of it, sometimes my mind is so blank I can hear the wind whistling through my ears.  No, really, it's like Death Valley in my head sometimes.  Kinda scary, actually.

Well, let me tell you about my trip to Michael's.  The day started with having to get up at 6 AM.  Those who know me, know that I am NOT a morning person in any shape, form or fashion.  In fact, left to my own devices, I would likely be going TO bed, not getting up at 6.  Anyway, my sister and I took our mother and a friend of hers to the airport, where they set to FL to visit friends.  Then Chick-Fil-A for chicken minis for breakfast.  Heaven in your mouth.  Little bite sized pieces of fried chicken wrapped in mini yeast rolls.  Way yummy.  We stopped at Goodwill to look for re- and up-cyclable stuff  but alas we left empty handed.  On to Kohl's where we scored some good deals. Yay! Christmas shopping started already!   Finally, Michael's. We went to a different store than we usually go to, so nothing was where I was used to it being.  Add to that the fact that they are starting to stock Christmas stuff.  The aisles were full of boxes and 'stuff' and employees taking down displays, putting up displays, and generally getting in the way of my shopping :)  I could kick myself, though. I specially wanted to get clay crafting tools, and a couple of punches.  What were the two things I DIDN'T get??  You got it.  Man, memory loss sucks.  So.um....what I was talking about? :D  We ended the day with a late lunch at El Dorado where I had an excellent Taco Salad.

So my sister made me a surprise today (Carol, if you're reading this, skip this part :D) She made Impossible Brownie Pie.  It was way yum.  We decided next time she makes it, she'll put nuts in it.  Tomorrow I'm going to make Cincinnati Chili for dinner.  Pasta, chili, cheese, onions and mushrooms.  Can hardly wait!  Probably gonna have to have some garlic bread, too.

Hmmmmmm I wonder how the orcs and trolls are doing without me.  I probably should go check on them. I'm sure one or two needs a good butt-kicking to end my day.

Til later,
Morado

Soggy Sunday

Blissful Sunday.  Well, that's what it's SUPPOSED to be.  Unless you include a trip to Walmart.  When it's raining.  I'm tellin' ya, NASCAR drivers can't get in the pits any faster than people trying to park by the door at Walmart in the rain.  You need an air traffic controller to help you navigate a Walmart parking lot.  And of course, the person who gets the first prime parking space is about 18.  They hop out of the car and skip to the door in between the raindrops so they don't get wet.  Unlike us *ahem* more mature people who have to unfold to get out of the car and don't get up to speed for at least 30 yards.  Then you realize they have parked in a handicapped spot!  You get ready to leave a nasty note on their windshield when you realize there is one of those handicapped plaques dangling from the rearview mirror.  In fact, it's still swinging from the momentum of them blasting into the parking space at the speed of light.  You KNOW it belongs to Granny or Aunt Hortense, not that nauseating 103 pound stick that just went tripping in the store.  They're so much faster than you that as you are going in the store, you see them going through the exit door with a full cart AND a drink from Subway.  I tell ya, it really pisses me off.

Then let's talk about actually SHOPPING in Walmart.  The first thing you hear is the lilting lullaby of a really mad kid who didn't get the whatever's-the-latest toy.  That first soft strain of music is joined by the crashing crescendo of a screaming mother who hasn't slept in 37 months, all building to a symphony that you rename the "Wall of Sound" (if you don't know what the Wall of Sound is, Google Phil Spector and skip over all the stories of his murder trial).  As you tool around the store, you enter the refrigerated section, or as I like to call it, Antarctica.  You need a Nepalese Sherpa's coat to just buy a Red Baron pizza, which you plan to eat in its entirety while wearing your jammies and watching 'You've Got Mail' for the 400th time. (Which sounds like a mighty fine way to spend an evening to me.)

You finish your shopping and head to the car, leaning heavily on the cart handle like you just finished the Boston Marathon.  You plan to carefully place your purchases so as not to mash the bread but it's still raining, so you sling the bags in the car like John Smoltz on the mound in a tied game with 3 on and 2 outs.
Finally, you're home.  Now you have to get all that crap out of the car into the house.  The cats help you by winding around your feet and competing to see who can trip you first and make you fall in a puddle.  

In my mind's eye, I see me in my jammies, with a hot pizza beside me, and Tom Hanks looking cute on the screen.  But first, just let me check Pinterest and Facebook, and I gotta see how the trolls and orcs are doing........I'll get back to ya tomorrow. :)

Til later,
Morado

Sunny Saturday

Happy Saturday!  Gotta love Saturdays. Lazy Saturdays. So far today, I got up.  I had breakfast. I turned on the Food Network.  I rearranged some skeins of yarn.  I petted the kitty.  I logged into WoW.   And it's noon already!  Yep, been a real productive day so far :) 

Ok, I have worked on my blog some, still trying to get it all set up.  This stuff can give ya a headache, but it is fun.  Helen's way far ahead of me on hers, but she's a bulldog.  Grabs hold of something and hangs on til it's done.  Me, I'm more like a shitzhu.  You know, funny looking hair, sits around being adorable.  

Soooooo, on today's to-do list maybe i will and maybe i won't get it done list is to work on the Spiderman web blanket, do some paper crafting and work on the blog.  Oh who am I kidding.  It's a play WoW til my eyes bug out and eat junk food day.  Ok, ok, I'll open up some time to cruise Pinterest and pin tons of things I'll never do.  But a girl can dream!  

OH! Michael's trip on Tuesday with my sister (perhaps a stop at Cold Stone Creamery may be arranged, too).  Yay! Already got my 20% off entire purchase (including sale items!!!) coupon printed out, plus Tuesday is AARP day.  Another 10% off.  Woohoo.  Got my list made of things I want to get AND I cleaned off the crafting table in anticipation of making oodles of goodies.  Speaking of Michael's, have you seen any of those YouTube videos of people showing what they bought at Michael's?  Why waste time making a video showing unknown people what you bought at Michael's when you could be USING the stuff you bought?   Now, I'm all for wasting time, but even that's a bit much for me.  I watched two of those videos.  The first one I watched cause I couldn't believe someone actually made a video holding up stamps and ink pads they bought, and the second I watched cause I couldn't believe more than one person made such a video!  Get a life!  Make stuff!  Play WoW!  

I think I hear the trolls starting to gather.  Better go save mankind.

Til later,
Morado

Going to Funtown

Today was dialysis, or we refer to it, D Day, or 'going to Funtown!'  It wasn't real fun today, though.  A quick lesson in dialysis.  As the blood goes out of your body and through the machine, the machine cools your blood to help keep you from cramping and help keep your blood pressure from dropping. Even snuggled under my blanket, I was freezing today so I asked the tech to turn up the temp.  Sure 'nuff, 'boom'. The bottom fell out of my blood pressure and there I was in fuzzy land.  Things sound far away and sorta slowed down and I see spots in front of my eyes.  (Well, would be pretty hard to see ANYthing in the BACKS of my eyes!)  If I had paid for some drug to make me feel that way, it probably would have been a good trip.  However, me no likey those kinds of trips and I would surely never pay for one or do it on purpose!  One of the good things about dialysis, other than the fact of course that it keeps me alive, is that I get to talk crafting with one of the nurses, Carol.  She's a big crafter, too, and we talk all things craftable and discuss ideas and methods.  Sure makes the time on the machine go by in a much more pleasant fashion :)

Did I mention that besides crafting, gardening and other assorted fun things that I'm a gamer?  Yup, a middle aged woman who loves to kill things in World of Warcraft.  Bu that troll NEEDED killing, I swear!  It was a public service!  So tonight will likely be a sit in front of the puter and kill mass quantities of bad guys.    I blame my significant other for this.  It'll be fun, he said.  You'll like it, he said.  We can play together, he said. Well, I DO like it, it IS fun and we do play together.  The couple who creates mass havoc together stays together, I guess :)

So let's talk crafting.  I'm working on a Spiderman web blanket/afghan for my great-nephew (I usually call him my niece's little boy cause it makes me sound younger) who is a big Spiderman fan. You make it in wedges and for the most part it goes quickly.  But one wedge, known hereafter as The Wedge From Hell, nearly made me toss it in the trash. I did that sucker 4 times before it came out right.  Of course, it's wasn't MY fault that I left out a row.  Twice.  In two different places.  Or that I did the edging wrong.  Nope, it was the crochet gremlins that messed it up.  I swear, those little guys are everywhere. 

Time to sign off.  I think I hear trolls and orcs plotting destruction.  They must be stopped!!!!!

Til later,
Morado

Hi! Thanks for stopping by.  My name is Morado (rhymes with Tornado!) and I live in the beautiful state of Virginia.  I was born and raised here, in the state known as the State of Presidents, the location of tons of American history, amid beautiful forests, bookended by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains on the west.

I suppose you're wondering why this is called Little Bits of Lilac.  Well, lilacs are just about my favorite flower and smell, and the 'little bits' are the individual flowers.  So as the individual flowers make up the whole, so do the individual facets of our selves make us whole.  And purple is my favorite color.  And last, but not least, my name means 'purple' in Spanish.  :) Here you'll find wanderings of my (sometimes) strange mind, crafts, recipes, and whatever things I happen to think of to share with you.

I get my love of flowers and plants from my mother.  The day before I was born, she was out planting flowers, so I got a way early start!  I do love to play in the dirt and watch things grow.  I also love to craft.  One of my main hobbies is machine embroidery.  If it stands still long enough, I'll embroider something on it! I also crochet, and make cards and other paper crafting, and I'm about to get into  polymer clay.  I've seen some way cool stuff made out of clay, and I've got quite a few ideas I want to try out. I've also done painting and quilling and beading and tatting and a whole host of things.

My friend Helen and I are starting an Etsy shop. We're both very crafty, and as you read above, engage in lots of different mediums.  I have stage 5 renal failure and am on dialysis.  Helen's husband just had a kidney transplant a year ago, and she has the MOST adorable little boy who is autisic.  Helen herself suffered a stroke several years ago.  So while we may not be in the most vigorous of physical health, we can and do still manage to create a little havoc at times!  Anyhoo, our Etsy shop is called Heartland Heritage Crafts.  Helen is from Ohio, but her mother is from the hollers of Virginia, so we both have the Heartland in our blood.  We chose the word Heritage because we both learned some of our crafting from older relatives and friends, thus we are continuing to pass on the 'knowledge of old' :)  My sister, who is THE best sister in the world bar none, also crafts.  She makes beautiful things out of plastic canvas.  And I'm the lucky recipient of a lot of them!  More, please, Debra :D

This is my first ever blog, so bear with me as I learn my way around.

So pull up a chair, kick off your shoes, grab a cup of your favorite beverage, and let's go smell the lilacs!