And I Thought Summer Was Bad

Sorry I haven't been around at all or visited anyone's blogs.  The last time I posted was August 31st about the worst summer ever.  My hopes for September were dashed on September 1st.  

My mom had a medical incident that resulted in her being sent to a rehab to determine if she can go home and be able to take care of herself.  She's 90.  With that came a lot of paperwork, phone calls and me having to run two houses while going over there to pick up mail and check on the place.  

We had a cool full moon on September 5.

Followed by pouring down rain on the 6th.

One good thing did happen, however, I got my first Harry Potter Loot Crate.  Very impressed with the stuff!  High quality items.  I signed up to get 3 total crates.  They come every other month, so my next one is in November.

Locket Horcrux

Honeyducks candy erasers (cauldron cake, chocolate frog, sugar skull, jelly slug)

Wand pen.

Stationery set

And the best one, this awesome Ravenclaw scarf.  You can pick your house when you sign up so that they will send specific house related stuff.

Then the absolute worst thing happened.  Russell got so sick that he was hospitalized on September 11.  It was terrifying....his heart was in bad shape and I truly believe he was possibly hours from a fatal heart attack.  The local hospital had him for about 2 days when they transferred him to Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River.  I'd never heard of them till that day and as it turns out, they are in the top 5% best cardiac hospitals in the country, and it's true.  The care he received was top notch. Long story short, he had a triple bypass and valve replacement but they had to get him strong enough to survive the operation.  I have never cried so much and so hard in my life, and if it wasn't for my friends and stepdaughter, I don't think I would've been able to cope.  We drove down early the day of the operation and my friend Annette met us there and stayed with us in the waiting room.  It was a long, nerve wracking day.  When the nurse approached the door with a huge smile on her face around 2:30, I knew he had made it through.  Post-op recovery meant 10 more days in ICU and step-down, and he finally came home on the 29th.

Val found this outside Tobey hospital, near the entrance.  She told me to take it, so I did and put it in my purse.  I kept it there the entire time he was gone.  Gryffindor colours too, I might add, for my brave, strong hubby.

I would spend 6-7 hours a day in his room, watching TV with him and stitching.  I finished this owl project in just about 20 days...maybe less cause the visiting hours in ICU were much shorter.  I put the last French knot on it in his room, about an hour before he was released.

He has a long road ahead with recovery but so far, so good.  

I'm generally not a fan of candy bars but I couldn't resist getting this Snickers bar.  There were all different sayings on it but I felt 'hot mess' summed up my month. 

In other crappy news from September, found out one of my cousins passed away from a sudden heart attack.  She was alone when it happened.  Bobbie always read my blog to keep up with what I was up to since she wasn't interested in Facebook.  I deeply regret not keeping in touch more this spring and summer.  

Val & I got addicted to these cheese sandwiches that were sold at a coffee stand in the lobby.  The cheese is called  Sao Jorge, or Saint George' and it's Portuguese.  Fall River has a huge population of Portuguese people so there are lots of markets that carry the food.  I headed to Portugalia Marketplace one morning before going up to see Russell.  It's right in the downtown area.  I got the cheese and some rolls and went out to my car to put the rolls in the trunk.  Stuck the key in, turned, aaannnnnd *snap*.  I'm standing there holding half a key...the IGNITION key too, I might add, feeling a giant wave of panic wash over me.  I freaked out.  I had to call AAA and thank god they found a locksmith who could come out, fish the broken piece out and make me a new one on site.  I was at the market place a good 90 minutes before Atlantic Locksmith showed up.  I was weeping...all the stress of the month and now this.  The locksmith was so kind.  He felt so sorry for me that they knocked some money off the bill which I appreciated.  

First day of fall came and went.  No decorations are going up this year.  Just way too tired and it's too daunting of a project, no matter how organized I try to be about it.  We have lots of fragile every day things and they have to be dusted, wrapped and packed into the bin once the fall/Halloween things come out. 

Pretty moon on the 26th

We had a really cool sunset on the 28th.  It was seen all over the Cape and the pics I saw on Facebook were stunning. 

The clouds were really unique

From this particular angle, I was imagining that this is what Jupiter would look like from one of it's moons.

And so I bid September good bye and good riddance. Here's to better days!

How Is It June Already?!?!?!

I feel like I just put the Christmas decorations away and it's already June.  Time's going by just waaay too fast.  

We had a quiet Memorial Day weekend.  We've had a ton of rain around here so when it was sunny, we had to take advantage of it.  The Saturday of that weekend, we went to the Wareham Flea Market and scored these 2 super cool, unique glass bottles.  They're so heavy....they must weigh a ton when full of liquid!

It was nice to be able to sit on the deck in sunny weather too, till the gypsy moth caterpillars arrived. Those things gross me out so bad.  We were visiting my inlaws and they were even inside the gazebo. Two of them landed on me and I about had a nervous breakdown, so Russell suggested I go treat myself to a cupcake, so I did.  

Pink flamingos looking worse for the wear after a couple of winters.

Gnomey is happy it's warm

Ebenezer

I thought this huge dragon fly was dead cause it looked like his wings were stuck in the web strands.  He was soooo still.  After I took, this I pulled a couple strands away, and it flew off!  

At least the rain has made for some pretty clouds and skies.  A huge and bright double rainbow was seen all over the Cape one night.  The pics posted on Facebook were beautiful.  I just get a lot of clouds which is fine too.

We got home from errands one day to find that Sagan had gotten ahold of an almost full package of lofthouse cookies, ate every single one and left the empty plastic clamshell on the floor.  I'd obviously left it too close to the edge of the counter.  The next day, however, we came home to THIS.  

We were sooooo not amused.  Sagan wasn't even sorry.

Hubs and my stepson trimmed the branches off of a tree for my mom.  The three of us worked really hard.  

It was way more of a job than I thought it'd be and now we have to cut up all the branches that were unloaded on the other side of the driveway.  

Cute li'l chipmunk.

We decided to check out a butcher shop up in Plymouth.  It's in an older, quieter part of town and I never stopped here thought I've driven past it a lot.  Piantedosi's is small, but packed full of delicious, fresh food, meats and Italian groceries.  I got a cheese lasagna that is to die for, and we were so pleased with the chicken wings as well.  Russell got some steaks too, and I picked up meatballs & sauce to make subs.

Walked around a bit.  Loved the signs in this part of town.

Russell told me that he used to deliver Coke at this old supermarket called Perry's, but he doubted it was still open.  We drove to where he said he remembered it was, and it was still open.  I wish I'd gotten pics of the inside cause it was like walking back into 1974.  He got a steak at their butcher dept. too, which he cooked up when we got home.  I even had a small piece and it was amazing.  He was literally in heaven!

Now I need to make some time for serious day trips!

Someone Please Slow Down the Time!

Each year seems to be flying by faster than the one before.  I cannot believe it's almost October.  It feels like I just put away the decorations and it's time to take them out again.  What's mostly time consuming is dusting and putting away all the every day decorations while simultaneously putting up the Halloween ones.  I don't just toss my stuff into the storage bin.  No no no.  I have to dust and wrap almost every single knick knack in bubblewrap or tissue paper.  This would explain why my stuff is in good condition and has lasted for over 25 years.  

Anywho.  I did want to share some cool sky pics taken at the end of August and this month.

Moonrise on August 17, 2016

August 26, 2016 late afternoon Maxfield Parrish clouds.

Sunset on September 1st

September 7

September 11 sunset

I was outside at the right time to catch the afternoon sun in my glass wind chimes, which are a little worse for wear.

Some have broken.  I had to do a coat of glass paint a couple of years ago and it looks like they need another one.  Or maybe I should just buy a new set.

Full Harvest Moon on September 15th

I was browsing the Halloween stuff in CVS and came across the scariest masks I've EVER seen. *shudder*  Trump looks like he has grilled chicken on his head.  

After I finished the states, I wanted a super quick, instant gratification project so I whipped up this beaded cross stitch fireflies kit.  Took two days.  I gave it to my friend Yvonne as a fridge magnet.

I was kinda sick of looking at these unfinished needlepoints on my craft table so I buckled down and worked for a couple of hours hand stitching each one to black backing fabric and then using fiberfill for the stuffing.  I erred with the sewing on the peacock feathers.  There were still a few rows of white canvas showing at the seams, so I used a black sharpie and carefully coloured them.  Worked out really well too.  

Real life has been rudely butting into my life.  The upswing in 'adulting' I've had to do lately has been unreal.  I'm so exhausted all the time, it's not even funny.  I'm still having issues with panic and anxiety, and trying not to see the glass as half empty.  It's so hard.  Sometimes I just feel so beaten down and I don't want to leave the house.  

I haven't been beachcombing in ages and I have no idea when I can pencil in some beach time.  I think the parking lots are free by now.  I have a rather ambitious "Things I want to do this fall" list and it remains to be seen if I will be able to do all of it but I'll give it the ol' college try!