The Sugar and Spice baby shower was a hit.  We had pink and white decorations all over the house.  Leslie made chicken salad on croissants, lemonade, sugar donut muffins, pumpkin muffins, and had an assortment of candies.  Kristi made a precious tricycle from baby diapers, complete with a teddy bear wearing a tutu riding on it.  I made spiced and glazed pecans and a mixed berry cheesecake trifle.  Needless to say, everyone went home on a sugar high. Carrie got some really great gifts from all the family members who were at the shower, including  a complete game day outfit for her first UGA outing. I never realized until we had these three showers just how many gadgets new moms needed for their babies.

We are out of the shower business until this fall, when we’ll be celebrating the addition of a new granddaughter-in-law.  Shannon and Sam will be married in December, so we’ll host a bridal shower in the fall.  That one will be at Leslie and Bradley’s new house.

The warm days draw me outside, and now the new knee is cooperating.  On Sunday, I planted some broccoli, raked and mulched leaves and pulled weeds for several hours.  It’s been so long since I was able to get out and work, I can hardly tell that I had done anything out there.

However, the daffodils and hellebores are in full bloom so just getting out to admire them is enough to satisfy my gardening soul for a while.  The hellebores are as pretty as I’ve ever seen them, despite the late freeze.  They have been blooming for a couple of weeks, and I’ll enjoy them for several more weeks before they start to die back.

The wood hyaciinths, corcus, and hybrid hyacinths have all opened.  Nothing can compare to the smell of the native wood hyacinths, and several of the daffodil varieties have a wonderful fragrance.  The snowbells have almost completed their bloom cycle, with plump green seed pods forming now

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Some of the early blooming trees and shrubs are looking great right now.  The daphne with its lemon Pledge fragrance and the heady aroma of the edgworthia fill the air.  The smell pervades the yard.  Just follow your nose and you’ll find the flowers!  Scott’s peach tree is in full bloom, and the bees are loving it.  The little fellow in the picture is loaded down with pollen, ready to return to the bee hive.  I’m sure everyone has noticed the red buds forming on the red maple trees.  They are especially noticeable along the bypass near Blandenburg Road.  I love cutting branches of these maples to put into arrangements of daffodils and hellebores.

The fall-planted rutabagas and collards are ready to harvest.   I’ve enjoyed fresh rutabagas and collards with cornbread, cole slaw, and corn several times during the past week.

The broccoli, more collards, lettuce, and cabbage plants are soon to be in the ground.  In a couple of weeks I’ll start some seeds for the summer garden in the basement under the grow lights.   Nothing tastes better than fresh veggies straight from the garden.

Leslie, Kristi and I hosted our second baby shower in the past three weeks, with one more to go in March.  This shower was for baby Zade, Scott’s sister Celia’s grandson.

Leslie chose a Georgia Bulldog/tailgate party theme, so the day was overtaken with red and black.

Here are some pics of the setup and the guests.       A four wheeler made from diapers

Well, knee number two is installed and doing quite well.

I thought an odyssey of the journey to this point might put this in perspective.

About 10 years ago, I had an explosion in my right knee.  As I look back on it, I think I brought on the final demise of the already achy, creaking, popping knee when I decided to show those young whippersnappers at recess how to jump rope, running in and out.  Once I got in, I jumped (on pavement no less) 150 jumps.  The kids could’t believe an old lady like me could still jump rope, and my competitiveness wouldn’t let some 10 year old out do me.  No sirree!!!

That afternoon, as I was walking across the back yard, I fell to the ground when my knee felt like it had exploded.  After a trip to the ER and an xray, I made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor.  He looked at the xray and told me he didn’t see any problem.  After a three month period, I still had extreme swelling in my knee, pain so bad I couldn’t rest my foot on the floor, and the knee cap was locking up when it got caught on the lower leg bone. That’s when the doctor said he didn’t think there was anything wrong with my knee, and point blank told me he thought I was faking it.  I left his office in a daze, and never went back to anyone about the knee for the next 6 years.  By then I had to use a cane to get to and from my classroom every day (too prideful to use it during the school day, so I just have to grit my teeth and bear it).   After a summer of being in a wheelchair, I decided that I just couldn’t work anymore with the pain and agony of just getting into the car.  ( I often called Scott when i pulled into the carport to ask him to come help me out of the car.  I couldn’t bend my leg enough to get it over the car’s threshold.)  I told my principal that I was retiring.  That was the fall of 2004.  I retired in June of 2005.

I spent the first five years of my retirement limping my way along.  Thank heavens for the United Health Care program that assigned a nurse to contact retired teachers to get input on our health issues.  She asked about chronic pain and I mentioned my lower back and knee problems.  She suggested that I have the back checked out and recommended a doctor in Newnan.  After and MRI, Dr. Kessler determined that my back was not causing the knee pain and he referred me to Dr. McMath.  On my first visit, I had an xray and Dr. McMath said I didn’t have any cartilage or fluid left in either knee.  I was basically walking with my bones rubbing against each other.  He tried a couple of stop-gap measures, but neither worked so my only alternatives were grin and bear it or surgery.  I chose to have me knee replaced in 2010, almost 10 years after my trip to the ER.

I had a six hour knee replacement surgery on Wed, that included removing bone fragments from the flesh in  the back of my knee, caused when the knee cap got got on the leg bone and crumbled.  This was probably the sorest place I had.  When I woke up I told Scott that for the first time in over 10 years I was pain free (except of course for the incision and muscles, tissue pain.  But absolutely no joint pain)  I went home on Saturday.  They started the physical therapy the day after the surgery and I was up and walking down the hall by myself by Friday.  When I came home, I had in home therapy for three weeks, then a few weeks at Southern Therapy.   And, yes the therapy is painful, but you get out what you put in, so I really put my whole heart into those hated exercises.  I was walking with a cane by the end of the second week after surgery, and totally unassisted by week three.  And then the night throbs started.  In the middle of the night, I woke up with the most excruciating pain in my knee, and wondered why in the world I ever thought this was a good idea.  A few days of this really nagging pain, and I was back on the road to full knee health.)

I finally gave in to the terrible pain (mostly because it was interfering with my everyday activities and scheduled my second knee surgery.  I have tried to work it around the time when Dianne will have her surgery so that I will be up and able to help her after her surgery.  

The surgery this time was much shorter, and I was able to be up walking by Thursday, even getting myself a bath and putting on my own pajamas that afternoon.  (I think someone was paid a whole lot of money to design a hospital gown that would make patients look like a laughingstock, and couldn’t wait to get out of mine.)  By Friday, I included a trip up and down some stairs to show the therapist that I could get into my house, then I was good to go home. Sat. day 4- The trip home was a nightmare of pain, not from the knee, but from the pinched nerve in my hip.  Once home, I took some pain meds and spent most of the day in bed.

Sunday, day 5-  Made a few steps unassisted by cane or walker, did my exercises, then was totally useless the rest of the day.

Mon. day 6 started in home therapy, but didn’t get to have another session until Fri. due to snow storm.  But I know that most of the work is done on my own, so I kept up with the exercises as much as the hip pain would allow.

Fri. Day 10-  We took our first trip out of the house for dinner Friday night.  The trip was fine, but my hip and knee were begging to come home before we finished our meal.

By Sat. (Day 11), I was up and moving about really well.  Dianne came by and spent the day with me, brought me lunch and we had a great day together. I had a short visit from Joan Bush, who graciously made UGA bulldog mints for our tailgate party themed shower.  Leslie came late in the afternoon to start decorating for the baby shower on Sunday.

Sunday 12, Leslie, Kristi and I hosted a baby shower with 20 guests.  I made it through the day walking on my own, with no walker or cane.  It made me a little sore, so I went back to my walker today.   Jimmy and Sue came by to visit for a while.  Time goes by much faster when there’s someone else around to keep me occupied.

Day 13 I went back to Dr. McMath today to have the staples removed.  He was very pleased with my progress in bending my knee and cut my home therapy down to two weeks and said I’d probably only need about 4 weeks of out patient therapy.  I told him that if I had had him around the throat last Thursday I would have gladly strangled him for getting me into this mess.  He thought that was hilarious.  His patients usually curse him after surgery when they start therapy, but he doesn’t usually hear it directly his patients.  After a quick trip to the fabric store, lunch out, we’re home for the day.   Therapy starts again tomorrow.I thin

I am so glad to have this behind me, and believe that it will improve the quality of my life to be pain free after struggling with this for almost a decade. I told Dr. McMath that I missed the first plant dig of the year and hoped I’d be able to get out there at least by mid March.  He predicted that I’d be back out there by the first of March.  As the old saying goes “Doctor knows best”, so expect posts soon of me and my plant buddies digging in the dirt together again.

I’ve heard that old saying that into each life a little rain must fall.  This was a downpour for me, but compared to what some people suffer, I think I came out on the winning side.  I appreciate all the prayers, calls, cards, and words of encouragement and hope that this will help others decide to take the plunge to take control of their health issues and make them work to your own best advantage.  I’m sure that my life will be even better once the recovery is complete.

Scott wanted a day out to go to a card show, but wasn’t comfortable leaving me here by myself.  He suggested I go down and spend the day with Mama.  But that would entail taking the leg exercising machine, my meds, my heating pad, my walker, blah, blah, blah.  So the solution was for Dianne to spend the afternoon with me after she got her transfusion this morning.  She brought me Chinese for lunch and we had a good long visit, no tv, no phones, just girl talk.  We did a complete virtual remodel of her house, talked some about our plans for our first trip post surgery, and did what sisters do-enjoyed each other’s company.

Also had a nice visit and surprise gift from my dear friend Joan Bush.  She’s always so thoughtful and helpful.  I don’t realize how much I miss old friends until I see them again.  Hope we’ll be able to have another visit together soon.

Now it’s time to get back into the torture machine and stretch that knee, then do my round of exercises, then sit around and moan cause I’m stiff and sore.  But I have been able to take some steps without the walker today, made up the beds, and managed to do some laundry, so things are getting better everyday.

I am blessed to have such a caring family, Scott the babysitter, housekeeper, tote and fetch guy and Dianne who knows how to just be when I need her.

Now awaiting an overnight visit from Leslie as we get ready for baby shower number two tomorrow with a Georgia Bulldog/tail gate party theme.  Looks like it’s going to be really cute.  Shower number three will be in Feb., then we’ll have a break until the next baby boom in the family.

The beehive is snugly enshrouded with an insulated blanket and a reducer on the opening to reduce the cold air getting inside.  I’m sure the bees will appreciate that if it gets as cold as predicted.  The dogs are snuggled on their blankets in Scott’s office, and I’m about to put some supper in the oven.

While I built a beehive insulation box, Scott covered all the outside faucets with insulation and plastic.  We went to all the hardware places today and the insulated faucet were all sold out.  Home Depot had people coming from D’ville and surrounding areas, and the last ones were sold by 10:00 this morning.  So we improvised and made our own.  Lowe’s said they were getting in a truck tonight, but we weren’t sure they were getting any faucet covers.  Better safe than sorry.  I sure didn’t want to be out there after dark trying to cover the faucets.  Note to self:  go get some faucet covers as soon as possible for the next cold snap!

I have three delicious books checked out from the library, as well as my Sunday School lesson to study, so the brain won’t shut down if the snow comes.

And I still have a bazillion things to sew if I get tired of reading.

There’s a big pot of homemade chicken  noodle soup, a large bowl of homemade chicken salad, and plenty of bread and milk, fixings for more soup-vegetable and clam chowder, if needed. .  So we can weather any storm that comes our way.  We even have some firewood stocked up.

For the sake of those who are homeless, or who have homes that don’t hold heat well, I would wish away this cold coming our way.  With each snowflake that falls, I’ll be praying for everyone to stay safe and warm inside their homes.  I am so thankful for all my blessings.

It’s always a guessing game as to what Brandi is gonna want for Christmas.  One year, she had fabric delivered and I covered all her outdoor furniture cushions.

This year, she came with her suitcase stuffed full of her bedroom curtains.  She wanted the shirred curtains made into Roman shades, as the curtains seemed to dwarf her small bedroom.  She checked with a local seamstress out there, and the lady wanted $2000 to make the 4 shades from the curtains.  So her Christmas present from me was once again a sewing project.  We spent a bit of time together in the basement, which was a treat.

She sent me a photo of the first shade when she got it hung, and I must say it looks good.  I was a little intimidated working just from her measurements-not that I don’t trust her to do it right, but my daddy always said measure twice, cut once.

So Brandi has decided that this was the most expensive gift I’ve ever given her.  We’ll see what next year brings!

I returned a couple of things I had bought Leslie.  I think that I’ll use the money to buy plants to landscape the slope in the backyard of the house they are hoping to buy.  It’s a beautiful , with a slope that runs down to a small creek at the foot of the hill.  I’m thinking some silverbells, leucothe, sparkleberry, and native azaleas on the slope for spring blooms, some sourwood along the woods line for the gorgeous blooms in  and late summer and some witch hazel for those beautiful spidery blooms in November.  Along the stream bank, I’ll plant lots of rescued ferns.  All this after we remove the privet hedge and the English Ivy.  Yuck!  It will be a showplace if/when we ever get it done.  It’s going to be a long term project, but one I’m just itching to get started on.

I promised myself a while ago that I would do a compete overhaul in the basement, throwing out the unneeded/unwanted and organizing the rest of the ‘stuff’.  Well, stowing away the Christmas stuff has got me on a roll.  Yesterday, I emptied one of several storage totes containing Christmas linens- napkins, table runner, tablecloths, etc.  Whittled that down to two totes-one full of stuff I use every year, the other full of stuff that I bought intending to get them embroidered for gifts.  That’s a project for a later date.

Then I tackled a box labeled “Christmas fabric”.  Found several pieces of fabric with Christmas vests printed on them.  I cut our all the vest last night and got three of them quilted (I’m adding a thin layer of batting to make them warmer) and stitched together.  Then I started cutting the other Christmas fabrics into pillow sized pieces.  Couldn’t get started on the sewing because I didn’t have enough cording, and I do love pillows with cording!  After a trip this afternoon to the fabric store, I’ll start on the pillows tonight.  I plan to make them removable so I can change out the covers for pillows on the front porch rockers.  May also have some to sell at the Christmas bazaar next year.

We’ve had my brother and nephews over all day trying to find a water leak.  They had to dig up a bunch of the front yard-that red clay is sticky with all this rain.  Finally found the leak at the faucet in the garden.  At least they didn’t have to replace the whole water line as we had feared.  Steve is such a good old soul.  Never complains about working in the cold or heat.  I got lucky when I was born into the family with a brother like him.

We bought a new dining room set before Christmas, and the rug looked terrible with the red seated chairs.  So the new rug came today and the old rug looks great in my bedroom.  Couldn’t have worked out better.  Hopefully that’s all the stuff we’ll have to deal with for a while, until I start my next remodel project.  Oh, yes, there’s always something that change be changed, rearranged, torn down or built on.  I have three specific projects in mind, but I’ll only spring one at a time on Mr. Hight.  I have to give him time to recover from one before I begin on another!

So, I got this wild hair to start on an upholstery project (actually two projects, but one must wait for a new supply of staples for my staple gun)  I’ve stripped the cover from a chair I found at Goodwill.  It was covered with some really ugly plastic green vine fabric.  Then I realized that I was out of staples, so I moved onto my footstool.  Scott bought this for me at a shop in Kennesaw, and it had a really ratty cover.  I had hoped to do some needlepoint like the old cover, but have had no luck in finding a pattern.  So Hobby Lobby happened to have some nice fabric that will do well.

I stripped the old fabric off today, and will start the recovering tonight.  So here are the before pictures, and the ‘in between the old and new’ pictures.

BEFORE

Phase 1:  Remove all upholstery fabric, in this case two layers.  These are the In between the old and the new cover.

Phase 2:  Disassemble the wood, glue, clamp, and wait.  Hopefully the stool will be much sturdier now!

Hopefully, the new and improved stool will be ready in a few days.

I’ll keep you posted.

Sunday night my mother’s family kicked off their holiday traditions with a dinner out.  There were about forty of us.  The number dwindles every year, so it’s so important to not miss this!  Mama still has three of her sisters and one brother, and thankfully they were all able to come.

Tonight is the Native Plant Society’s Christmas meeting, with a short meeting, then tons of great food.  This is one of the most wonderful groups I’ve ever been involved with-no pretentious bones in any of their bodies, thoughtful, committed to our work of rescuing native plants, and just good all-round people.  I look forward to every meeting, rescue, board meeting, presentation we do.

Brandi will be home on Thursday, with our family stuff getting into full swing over the weekend at Gram’s house.  Scott’s family is such a joy to be with.

Still haven’t done all the decorating I usually do, but this year, I’m thankful for the small graces God has bestowed on me-a healthy mama, my sister, my children of whom I am so proud, Scott-who puts up with me.  My list goes on and on-no need to have a Santa list.  I’ve got everything I need to make me happy.

Hope everyone else out there can say the same.