Insomnia Has It's Rewards

I thought I would have been feeling a lot better by now. I don't, but the steroids have loosened up those arthritic fingers and I have been tying knots with wild abandon.

I may have misdiagnosed myself, after all. When HeWho rehabs came home yesterday, he was feeling poorly. "You gave me whatever you have!" Really? I have kept my distance and unlike him, I smother my face in my pillow while coughing all night. But …… he was coughing my same cough and complaining that his head was hurting. He, in fact had every symptom I had. I know this, because for two full hours he proclaimed them loudly as I brought him food and asked if he wanted to go to the clinic. "NO."

I called anyway and made an appointment for this morning, because I am a loving and concerned wife tired of listening to his complaints. Although my head still aches along with my throat, and I am dizzy and coughed so hard last night that I looked around to see if my toenails were on the floor. I knew he would have to hear from a medical professional before he would succumb to any treatment.

I can take remedies to ease my suffering, he has to be more careful because of the blood thinners. He came home with a mask on his face! He has the flu. Fortunately, they were able to prescribe the drug that will minimize the duration and symptoms. (fortunately for him, because his wife got him in the clinic in a timely fashion). He has had his lunch, homemade chicken and dumplings, and now he naps. I am pretty sure that I also have the flu, but I am too late for the magic drug and will just have to tough it out. The good news is that I have had my pneumonia shots. Yay! The bad news is that the steroids have exacerbated my insomnia.

Last summer before my granddaughter Layla would be heading to college, her mom (daughter Jill) pulled out a pile of Layla's t-shirts from all the years of dance and told me she was going to make a quilt for Layla. Just the fronts of the shirts. Of course I asked about the backs and the sleeves that I knew she would simply discard. She looked at me like I was from another planet, but she gave them to me. I grabbed up every single scrap.

I can't sit and watch TV with idle hands. So, I have been cutting those scraps into 1" strips and pulling them taut to make my "threads". Realizing I would need more to fill in I made a trip to the Dollar Tree and picked up some $1 tees to fill in and cut them. The bins in the picture are only part of my efforts.

This is one of the chairs I recently painted and reupholstered and this is where I have spent a lot of my time lately. I still need those little wooden peg things for the holes in the chair where the screws are, so don't look at that.

This represents many hours of my time. Taking my "thread" in hand I would poke one end through the rug canvas and using a latch hook rug tool, I would pull it through, tie it with two knots and clip it off and repeat over and over again until my hands would refuse to work anymore. I figured at the rate I was going, I would be able to present the rug to Layla when she graduates from college!

Last night, with steroids racing through my now limber fingers I made great headway!! Purple and green are up next and with three more days of steroids I will be able to have this rug ready by summer! 

I asked Jill about her progress on the quilt …. she hasn't even started. That's okay, I am more than willing to help my girl. My girls are about as interested in sewing and I might be interested in sky diving. Layla did show an interest, but dancing is her passion. She made the dance line at Ohio state as a freshman. I never doubted that she would, she is so talented. Oh, and by the way, she also made the dean's list. I am so very proud of her.