Last Monday of June

I would be remiss, if I didn't tell you that I will be really glad to turn the page over to July. My goodness what a month! Have you watched that show that comes on Monday night called American Ninja Warrior? It is about a really rough obstacle course and getting through it without falling or being too slow. I feel that is what June has been like, one giant obstacle course. I was hoping on Friday, just one normal weekend. Well, I know now that it just isn't going to happen in June.

Saturday morning, I took Sasha out it was just before the sun came up so it is that grey early morning light. Our side gate was a little ajar so I walked down to shut the gate. I looked down to my chicken coop, and what do I see, not one skunk but two. Trying to get in the chicken coop. Thinking fast, I made Sasha go in the garage. I shut the door, when there on the porch by me is skunk number one. I just took off running in my nightgown full speed to my bedroom door. Where I met Ron, who was just coming out, who had this shocked look on his face as I jetted past, " Skunk on the porch, skunk on the porch!" He went calmly back inside and got the flashlight, while saying, " Where is Sasha? I was grabbing my shoes to wear with my nightgown because that is important. " I said, I put her in the garage.

 

Ron shined the flashlight thinking that would get them back out in the yard, but then I got the bright idea to go open the swimming pool gate because there is a very noisy latch on it. So I went inside the pool fence and did the latch. Which did scare the skunk off of the porch. But guess where he wanted to escape to? To me, now inside the pool fence. I was backing up and backing up and then running to the other side of the pool. I looked down at the pool and thought. I will just jump in if he comes any closer, but as he was making his way around the pool fence to where I was standing, I ran out the gate and didn't have to go for a early morning swim.

Do you know those skunks can climb? Skunk number two climbed up the outside of the wire on my chicken coop and over the fence and got out that way. I didn't know they could do that. We opened the side gate when the sun was up and the skunk went out. Skunk number one was back the next night but I won't go into that.

Same day, I went in to start the dishwasher and I picked up my dishwasher soap box, and water was running out of it. Which is not good. I looked and our water purifier was spraying water and had for some time. We are getting down this routine. Ron turned the water off, and went to Lowe's to get new filters and fixed it but not without us spraying the kitchen down with water and ourselves first. The good thing is I have a clean kitchen floor, clean cabinets and it was a hot sweltering day so we dried fast and I am so glad it isn't winter.

Same day part two. We are sitting in the living room chatting with the kids because they are getting ready to attend a wedding out of town. When one of them says, " Is that water dripping out of the ceiling?" Yep. It was. Ron got the ladder and began the process of taking out the speaker in the ceiling to see where and what is leaking as the shower is above the living room. Which reminds me I need to call a plumber  today. So no showers upstairs right now. Hopefully the guy who shows up won't have to chip out tile in the shower.

Among other things, a guy stopped by yesterday and bought the Volkswagen. He came by in the morning and Ron and he dickered about it and the guy left. Then he came back later in the afternoon with cash. So that car is gone so that is good.

I did manage to hook this tiny rug. One of my pet peeves are all of these partial pieces of rug backing I have after I do a big rug, so I drew out a flag design. Not to mention I didn't have any red, white or blue, the colors I wanted so I did that thing where you get hot water and a piece of colored wool and then put the colored wool in the pot with the light wool and I loved the colors I got. I call this little mat,
Faded Glory,

Someday, I will bind rugs again. Every day though maybe I am thinking until November we have triple digits in the forecast. I can hook but the thought of binding is just it over the top. I wish I could figure out how to bind rugs while sitting in the pool.

I am starting to hum,"Somewhere over the rainbow" because I think that is where normal is living in my life right now.

I hope your week is a great one. Thank you for stopping by today,
~Kim~

 

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter---JRR Tolkien

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

A Nice Summer Day

 

My goodness, I haven't wrote a post in a week. I couldn't believe it. This month is just flying by isn't it?
I think June will go down as one incredible crazy month. On the morning Ron went to work after the black widow bite, my sister was rushed to the hospital for a burst appendix. Then she developed ARDS which is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. She spent a week in ICU. She was off of the machines finally last night. I am hoping that she will get to be out of ICU today. Maybe hopefully, this weekend she will be able to return home. So it has been quite a month.

I went out this morning and picked this lovely bowl of tomatoes.

 

 I have been making naan bread every other day. Our favorite snack is fresh tomatoes with feta sprinkled on top. Here is the wonderful site that I got the recipe off from. Mill Hill Meadow. Kerin is such a talented and fun blogger.

I worked on a couple of rugs and the mermaid rug has been tough, but I kind of like it.

My Pattern.

I will be glad to finish it.

I also worked on this little rug. I just needed to do a little red white and blue. This is from one of my favorite designers, Cathy Greschner At Red House Wool Studio

Long May She Wave.

I hope every thing has been nice going on at your house.
I wish you blessing upon blessing today.
~Kim~

" It is nothing short of a transformed vision of reality that is able
to see Christ as more real than the storm,
Love more real than hatred,
meekness more real than pride,
long-suffering more real than annoyance,
holiness more real than sin."
---Discipline: The Glad Surrender, p.62 Elisabeth Elliot

Thankful Thursday in Pictures

Adenium in bud.

Tea Roses

The real owner of our yard. 

The only place to be right now.

Happy to greet the morning.

The little garden.

 Flower promises

Dinner of the future.

Perfection

A Sunflower in the making.

Blackberries.

Hard times come and hard time go. Joy comes in the morning. Life is filled to the brim with lots of good things.
I read this today.
Two women looked through prison bars.
one saw mud, the other saw stars.
I think the difference is for me what direction am I looking.
"The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances." Elisabeth Elliot

Have a wonderful Thursday
~Kim~

"They took away what should have been my eyes.
(But I remembered Milton's Paradise.)

They took away what should have been my ears.
(Beethoven came and wiped away my tears.)

They took away what should have been my tongue.)
(But, I talked with God when I was young)

He would not let them take away my soul,

Possessing that, I still possess the whole.
---Helen Keller

Confessions of a Terrible Wife

Now that my husband is well, I thought I would confess to you that I should get an award for being the most terrible wife. You know that story of the glass, and what you really are is when the glass gets bumped and the stuff spills over the edge? In my dream world, I am a woman who doesn't get ruffled by trials, she can take every thing in stride and is kind to all.

The truth of the matter is--- I yelled at him, I thought he was faking and showed very little compassion. I have been bitten by a black widow before, and I just went shopping so I could be closer to the hospital if need be.  I really tried to get him to just go shopping. I thought if he walked it off and if he stopped thinking about the pain and the-whole- not -being- able- to- breathe- part- he would be fine. 

I am not a good nurse. Then he got sicker and I was afraid he was going to die. So I got nice, sort of. I mean for me. So the things I learned from this is:

1. I need to stop thinking of myself more highly that I ought. 
2. Get a adult antihistamine. Charcoal and Epsom salts. Those were the things that worked. 
3. Make sure you know where you are going and don't get lost trying to find the Urgent Care

       Above all, be kind, compassionate, understanding and empathetic. Telling him that it isn't as hard as giving  birth six times doesn't help.

 

What I really learned, is just how selfish I am.  When God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him. After all of the world was created and everything was perfect into this he put Adam. When God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, he formed woman. The most beautiful, perfect woman in every way. 
My job, is to be that, to compliment my husband, to be the person to who anticipates his needs and desires and be his help meet. I am not. I put myself on that throne, I forget, I am not a queen. He is not my servant. I was created as woman, to be his helper. What I love about the word helper is that it is also the other word for comforter. I am to be all of that too, to comfort him, and love him and build him up and be strong when he is weak. I fell down horribly on the job. 

 

 I started a thirty day challenge today, just because I need to get my head back in the game. It is a thirty day Bless Your Husband challenge. I will admit to you, I really didn't want to do it because I think if truth be told, I am still a bit mad at him. I am trying to be truthful. So this morning's challenge was to be grateful for all that he does, every day. No complaining. No negatives out of my mouth. It is early morning and I have gnawed off a inch off my tongue. 

 

I just thought I would come clean. With the passing of Elisabeth Elliot, I have been thinking of all that I learned from her. Her words always kicked me around the block, but it was good for me, and for my marriage and for my children and for my life. Being accountable is always a good thing. Besides, I didn't want you thinking that I was something was not. Sometimes I can sugar coat the truth. Well most of the time, I just show you my pretty flowers and not the weeds. 

I hope you have a lovely Wednesday. Thank you for reading this silly blog. Thank you for walking with me on this journey called life. 

~Kim~

 “The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.”
---Elisabeth Elliot 

Back To Normal

 

I know normal is an illusion. As I have heard it said, " We are either in a trial, coming out of a trial or getting ready to be in a trial." I have in my pea brain tried to get away from that saying, but I think it just might be true. Ron went to work yesterday. I credit it to the prayers of my friends and the goodness of God. He came home exhausted but so glad to return to his routine. I am thankful to have my friend who walks around with me, and looks at the garden with me and just having him do normal is such a wonderful gift. His hives are almost gone. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So just some normal things.

I dyed wool yesterday. My dye spoons continue to amaze me and I am so happy with my colors.
I am working on a mermaid rug.

 

She is a silhouette. I got the pattern from an old pub sign. I have wanted to do her for a long time.
I needed sea water, so yesterday I dyed the water background for her. The book I used was Vintage Colors.
Here are the the lovely wool colors that came out of the magic dye pot yesterday.

All of it really is much prettier in person. These are brighter than they really look. I can"t wait to start on the ocean. Doing black is like climbing up hill all day long.

Then a fantastic rug hooker named Julie Butler from Plumrun Creek did this fantastic rug from Buttermilk Basin. It is a summer wool runner. I liked how Julie's looked as a rug, so I decided I needed to buy a pattern and see if I could get it on backing.

 

I drew it out free hand. Which was so much fun. I of course, can't leave it alone so I added some stars and I am going to hook a red and white border along the bottom. It is a pretty large rug.It will be so much fun to hook next. Every thing in it makes me happy.

This makes me even happier. My first tomato. Isn't it just lovely! You have no idea how bad I wanted to just eat it fresh from the garden. I brought it in though to take its picture. We will see if I am singing this same tune come August. The little garden is so much fun and so much easier to take care of and my plants are just loaded with tomatoes. We are going into a heat wave starting today with every day triple digits so we will see how many get ripe.

Pattern by the Blue Attic

I have worked on this because having my hands busy is so much easier than panic. It finally dawned on me yesterday that I got a lot done these last few days. Though I think I need to start knitting because I think that would have been even better for my state of mind.

When I was a little girl, my Mom kept pretty much to this schedule. I asked her once, why she always ironed on Tuesdays. " She said, that if I wanted a clean house with every thing done and to have time for other things, it was best to follow this schedule." Those were the days when you had to iron and she had a big glass green coke bottle with this thing with a cork on it and holes that she would sprinkle the clothes with water. I keep hoping to find one in a antique store. I too have kept pretty much to this schedule even now. Just because it works.

I hope you have a delightful weekend. We have our pest control coming to fumigate the Volkswagen and our garage. So until that is done, Ron and Peter will not be working on cars. I am hoping for a nice, quiet, normal Saturday. It is my second oldest son's birthday. I just cannot believe how fast June is going by too.
Thank you so much for your prayers,
~Kim~

How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?
Dr. Seuss

An Update

 

First of all I want to thank you all for your prayers. I think on Monday after I posted the little sleep Ron was able to get came after the prayers were being lifted up. I know you prayed for me, as such a spirit of calmness continues to wash over me.  He continues to improve. This is such uncharted territory for us. I have done searches and read and while I can find symptoms, nothing says how long these things last or what else happens.

 His muscles continue spasm and he has involuntary jerks of his feet and hands. At least the legs have stopped. The toxins settled into his joints. Yesterday, he broke out in the worse case of hives I have ever seen, every place the joints had ached over the last three days. I think the hives are a good sign as the poison is leaving his body.  He sleeps each day a bit better. The sweat is continuing to abate. We have only made a few Spiderman jokes.

His hands have finally returned to normal warmth. I know that each day something new happens. He said yesterday that now he just feels like he has the worst flu he has ever had in his life. Which is a improvement over feeling he could die. I find I am so thankful for tiny things. I woke up this morning and listened to him breathe as he slept. I am thankful, when I make him laugh and hear him chuckling. I am thankful he is eating.
I am so thankful for warm hands. He sleeps best when he can hear me going about a normal routine. The sound of the washer and dryer, the sound of the dsihwasher. The sound of my keys typing on my keyboard.
Things like this narrow my vision, and blessing comes in the smallest things.

I just want to say, thank you, and when Ron was very sick on Monday, he would read your comments and they helped him so very much. Just to know he was being prayed for, gave him strength.
I of course, have always known, I have the most wonderful friends in the whole world.
It is one day at a time.
Thank you so much for your kind words and your prayers.
~Kim~

The Worst Weekend Ever!

What started out to be a nice weekend turned into the worst, I think I have ever had in my life.
We have that orange bug that Ron has wanted to restore for quite awhile. Peter wanted to help and thought it sound like a nice summer project. Ron got it in the garage and began to take it apart. It has been sitting for quite awhile and Ron started to get it ready to work on. He was wearing gloves. Something bit him on the hand and it must have injected the poison straight into the blood stream.

I was working on a rug, when he came in from the garage. He was white as a sheet, and his hand was red and starting to swell. We walked out and looked around and tried to see what it was, but we finally decided it must have been a black widow.

By this time the venom had made it up to his arm pit. I gave him some Benadryl. Thinking that would stop it. Next thing I know he can't breathe and he starts having chest pains. As I write this, it seems so calm. I can assure you it was not. I ran and took a shower through on some clothes and went upstairs to tell the boys.

I grabbed my car keys to take him to a Urgent Care that is pretty close to the house. Now while you would think as many times as I go down this road, I would know just where it is. I didn't. I got lost. I could see it in my mind, and Ron was really having a hard time breathing and stupid me, I can't think. Finally it dawns on me that it is one street over. We get there and walk in and it is just another lady and us. ( I think that was really weird too.)

After the paper work, which I think took the longest we make it back to the examining room. I don't know when it changed but all of these cute little Twelve year olds are now doctors. They came in and he was having classic symptoms of a spider bite. They gave him a shot that helped him to breathe. Gave me a prescription and we came home. That seems fast doesn't it? It wasn't. I had to go back and every pharmacy I went to the pharmacist was going to lunch. Except one, who stayed and filled the prescription for me. You know, I was so afraid he would die before I got back. The kids stayed with him but he was in so much pain as his body was seizing and having spasms. 

 

I gave him the first medication, which was a narcotic. He had a reaction to it. Which made everything worse.
Everything intensified. The pain was bad before and this made it worse. They had given me another prescription  but if you take the two together they will stop your breathing. The shot was already wearing off so he was having trouble breathing anyway. I gave him the other medication when two hours were past which caused its own problems. He never slept for 24 hours. I dozed when I could. We are now to Monday. The doctor said, it might take a week to 10 days for him to feel good again. He is sleeping now as I type this in a chair behind me. He has these sweats that are beyond anything I have ever seen. I know it is his body getting rid of toxins but it is a little like shock.  I do not know what I would do without our kids.
I have had such a terrible time trying to think. His hands and feet are so cold.

 Earlier this week I read an article about the benefits of black widow spiders in your garden. Well, I say bah humbug. This will be war from now on. It is ironic that I was afraid of being a widow. I still am as he still isn't good. So today the agenda is for him to sleep. You never realize the beauty of sleep until it isn't even a possibility.

I needed to share, because if you are a praying person, I would ask for your prayers for sleep. If you are not, I ask for kind thoughts. My devotional said this yesterday, " A prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. James 5:13-15

I am so aware, how in an instant, life can change.
~Kim~

A New Rug Finish

I finally have a rug to share with you. I wanted to see how fast I could hook a rug. Someone asked me that.
When I sat and thought about it, I really didn't have any idea. I started this rug last Friday and I steamed it last night. It is a big rug, so it will maybe take me all weekend to get it bound. You know that hooking rugs really is a labor of love. This one is my own pattern. From drawing out the design to pulling the final loop is a big job. It never ever feels like work. Okay enough chatter.

I had fun with this. I still have trouble with colors. Specially as I was trying to use up my all of my worms.
I never seem to make a dent in them and they just seem to multiply.  I did have to dye the background as I didn't have enough of that. I used my dye spoons so I got really good results. I used Karen Kahle's Dusty Little Dye Book. I really do enjoy that little book, and getting so many different colors out of just three colors of dye.

I started a new rug last night. It is a mermaid rug. I have three rugs I need to do while it is summer. A Ship, A Whale and the Mermaid. We should hit 100 degrees plus temperatures next week. That always slows down my hooking.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Doing all of the things you love best.

~Kim~

 

“I think that love is more like a light that you carry. At first childish happiness keeps it lighted and after that romance. Then motherhood lights it and then duty . . . and maybe after that sorrow. You wouldn't think that sorrow could be a light, would you, dearie? But it can. And then after that, service lights it. Yes. . . . I think that is what love is to a woman . . . a lantern in her hand.”
―Bess Streeter Aldrich---A Lantern in Her Hand.

(The book I am currently reading.)