What a Week and Pay it Forward!

My week started out well since my parents decided they were going to visit us for the Thanksgiving holiday. I am very excited because I haven't seen them since July, they will be here tomorrow. We got more good news on Wednesday. Our DS, who is in the Air Force Reserves and has been at school in Arkansas since March, is finally finished. He will be home tomorrow as well. We will have a full house for Thanksgiving which makes me very happy.

I really enjoy cooking, one of these days I am going to take some gourmet classes, and planning the menu for a large meal is an all day process for me. I think I've found the right combination of old favorites and a few new things. Thursday I went to do my grocery shopping which is another all day event by the time I go to the commissary, Sams, track down the specialty things I need and put everything away when I get home. I was almost finished putting things away, I just need to run the trash out that's when my week went downhill.

When I was pushing the trash down I cut my finger to the bone, thankfully I missed the tendon. Jeff, my DH, had to take me to the emergency room to get stitches. I have 9 stitches in the pinkie finger of my right hand. The only bright spot is I am left handed. Unfortunately, my left arm is also very sore from the tetanus shot they gave me. I did manage a few stitches yesterday, I had to be sure I could still stitch, LOL. Note to all, when you go to the ER for a cut, be sure you bring your shot record. I am almost positive I had a tetanus booster 4 years ago but since the doctor couldn't confirm it he insisted on giving me another one. I can't get my finger wet for 10 days, we'll have to see how that goes. The worst part is it took the medic quite a while to get set up. The cut is in a very awkward spot and she was nervous so it took a long time to stitch. Unfortunately, it took so long that the shots to numb it wore off, the last 4 stitches were not fun at all. She did offer to re-numb it but I'd already been there for over two hours so I told her just to finish it. It's going to make cooking and all awkward to say the least. I am hoping in a day or two as it closes the swelling and pain will decrease. It's a half moon cut on the side of my finger next to the middle knuckle. I am so not impressed, in the big scheme of things it is a minor inconvenience but still annoying.

I did get a little stitching done this week on Maria P. Oliver, not enough that you'd want to see a picture yet so instead here is a picture of where it will hang in my mom's house. This is my mom's 'wall' my sister calls it the 'Katrina wall', lol. I know it looks like my mom is out of space but she will make room for Maria P. Oliver and she is already talking about the next wall. Several of my stitching friends have suggested I teach my mom to stitch, I must note here my mother is an accomplished seamstress but she's not a stitcher. She'd prefer to leave that to me and I am happy to accommodate her :-). She loves her wall and I enjoy deciding which piece to stitch next for her. I have the next two or three pieces already picked out and kitted to stitch for her:

If you compare it to my smaller "wall" that goes up the stairs in my house, I need to do some serious stitching to catch up:

I have many other stitched pieces in my house, and if I pulled them together on a wall I would have a very nice display. I want a wall like my mom's without leaving bare walls everywhere else in my house :-). I have a long way to go. My goal is to make major progress in 2007, a little more time stitching and a little less time on the computer would help.

Finally, I signed up for Su's Pay it Forward Challenge. So now I am paying it forward, the first five people to sign up, via my comments section, will receive a stitched item from me sometime in the next year. After you sign up in the comments section email me at n2stitchkd at yahoo dot com so I can get your info. There is a catch of course, you must continue the gift by blogging this challenge yourself!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving!