One Year Ago Today

One year ago today the world lost an amazing man and I lost my dad. 

He was part daredevil.

He was fascinated by my daughter's peacock, Gizmo.  

It was one of his fondest dreams later in his life to get to visit her farm and see all her peacocks.

He got that wish.

He was petting the pet turkey, Jocelyn here.

He and Gizmo sharing a bonfire at the farm.

He love my children fiercely and unconditionally and they adored him.

This is one of the last outings we were able to go on together.  

We drove to Lansing to see his best friend and stopped in Mason for ice cream on the way home.

This is my favorite photo of me and my dad.  

It was taken on my wedding day almost 32 years ago now.

I miss my dad.  I think about him all the time. 

 I still want to pick up the phone and give him a call to tell him something that has happened or is happening in my life, but I know he knows.

If you still have your dad or grandpa in your life, take a minute and give him an extra hug today in memory of my dad.  Spend a few more minutes listening to that same old story once again.  Appreciate all the time you have left and take LOTS of pictures.  

RIP dad, you are loved and missed!

~XOP

I'm Doing OK

I just wanted to let you all know that after the visitation and Funeral this weekend that I am ok.  

The visitation was lovely.  

We had photos of my dad out and I draped the quilt I made him over the casket, placed his baritone sax, snowmobile model and a photo of the band he played in on top of it.

They hung his Army Air Corp jacket by his military photo and the flag and flower arrangements.

It was good to see so many people that I had not seen in a long time.  

To catch up with relatives and friends.  

To share stories about my dad in the different parts of his life.  

My middle daughter stood up at the funeral and gave an amazing tribute to my dad.

 One of the things she said was that she would not be the person she is today without having had my dad in her life.  

sniff, sniff.   

I was told I was not to cry or she would not be able to hold it together.  

I welled up but held it together.  

My dear friend played the flute 

(and had an amazing story to tell me about how my dad chose the music he wanted,

 but that's a story for another time)

Several friends of my dad's told stories about him.  

He sure did touch a lot of people.  

The honor guard was there with a military gun send off. followed by Taps. 

 I was doing fine until they played Taps, then the waterworks opened up.  

I managed to collect myself and was only fighting back tears as they presented me with the flag 

and the shell casings from the tribute.  

I barely remember the lunch and all too soon we were heading to the cemetery.  

It was an absolutely gorgeous day!  

HIs body was committed to the Earth and the funeral director broke out the Sharpies!  

We all  wrote one last goodbye to him on his casket.  

Something we wanted him to know or remember from each of us.

It was a long couple of days and yet it flew by.  

I will always miss my dad but know he is watching over me and my family.  

I am still feeling a little lost (not sure how else to describe it).

Everyone tells me this will pass.

I feel blessed that God chose him for my dad!

I realize that my blog has been not so quilty of late and hope you will all hang in there with me. 

 I have a few new things in the works and hope to be able to do some sharing soon!

~XOP~

My Dad

In case you have been wondering where I have been I have had a jam packed schedule with my dad.  I didn't say much but he went into the hospital on Friday of Memorial weekend and was discharged on Tuesday.  He went in with a UTI and was released infection free, but mentally, much diminished.  It was at that time I decided that I needed to call in Hospice.  I did not want him going into the hospital again if he got another UTI, which he seemed to be getting more and more frequently.  I went to see him every day after I got home from NC.  On Sunday I needed him to sign some papers for me.  He was no longer talking and was not certain what I needed him to do. His breathing was labored.  I knew this was the beginning of the end.  On Monday he was in bed and did not wake up for my visit.  Tuesday I went with my hubby to GR to plan his funeral, as I was certain he was not going to make it through the week.  What an experience it is to do that!  On Tuesday my daughter brought her cat over to see my dad and even though he did not wake up, when she put his hand on Lenore, my dad started petting her.  I can hear him saying "Hi kitty kitty" in his head as he did that.  He loved cats, just like me.

I went over alone on Wednesday and spent a few hours just holding his hands and stroking his head and talking to him.  I told him that if he was ready it was OK for him to go.  I promised I would take care of my sisters (both handicapped) and that we would all be alright.  I told him that he should go play gold with his dad and Jamie, that he should not hang out here even though I would miss him like crazy!  It was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do and also the best thing I have ever done.  My last gift to my dad that gave me so much in my own life.

My dad passed away, peacefully in his sleep on Thursday night.  I just missed being there.  I had an appointment that I needed to keep and afterward had this urgent sense that I needed to get to my dad's place.  I think that must have been as he was leaving.

RIP dad, I love you and will miss you more than you can know.  I know you are happy, golfing, snowmobiling and talking God's ears OFF!!

I love you dad!
We will not mourn your loss we will celebrate your life!

So Much Has Been Happening

I'm not sure where to even begin. 

 I think I will just start where I left off. 

 I went to Raleigh last week to visit my daughter. 

 We had a amazing week together.  

I always miss her so much when I come back. 

 I flew down on Monday and we drove to Atlantic Beach in NC. 

 We stayed for three nights and drove back to her place on Thursday.

This was the view out our balcony door.  

Looking to the left you can see the hot tub and to it's left was the actual swimming pool.

To the right were the cabana beds and a smaller pool, just for looks though I think

This is looking straight out from our room.  

Every morning they set up umbrellas and chairs for everyone.  

This is the Atlantic Ocean.

The area we were in was called the Crystal Coast. 

 I kept wondering if it was from all the amazing quartz I kept finding on the beach.  

And yes, much to my husband's dismay I brought them all home with me!

  Kelsey kept the shells.

We had some great food too.  Best nacho's ever were at the Ruddy Duck. 

 I found this really cool fossil of some coral too.

Nothing beats sunshine and the beach!!

We had a great time just hanging out together.

We stopped in New Bern on the way home from the beach.  

That is where Kelsey works right now, on the Neuse river.  

(I asked how to spell it and she said, "like the noose you put around your neck") and I laughed.  

We stopped in at the Sting Ray Cafe where she goes all the time when she is there.

The owner was fabulous and even brought us out some scallops 

he had just caught that were enormous!  

He grilled them and put crab all around, topped with cheese and drizzled butter.  

YUM!

There were some beautiful homes in that town too.  We drove around oogling all of them.

On Friday I took the car and drove myself to some quilt shops in the morning. 

 I went to Cary Quilting and found this pattern.

I also went to Wish Upon a Quilt and scored a little Bonnie and Cammile love.

I also went to Elegant Stitches and found a few things.

I had to be home after lunch so we could go to the outlet mall and go shopping. 

 I didn't take any photos of the things we got but we got some pretty good stuff there too.  

Unfortunately on Friday I got a call that my dad was acting really crazy and 

I knew that meant he had another infection. 

 I was gone, the owners of the home were gone and hubby was not going to be there until the evening.  So, bless his heart, he got home and took my dad to the ER, and it was my hubby's birthday!  

My dad ended up being admitted and by Sat night was so agitated they had to sedate him. 

 It was pretty nerve wracking to be so far away and not able to help at all. 

 I will go into this more another time though as this is already so long!  

On my way to another adventure I stopped at Thimble Pleasures.  I found some of this!

I put it on IG and ended up selling quite a few yards for them!  LOL 

 I also bought some other fabric for myself.  

I shared the mice and the dragonflies with some friends though.  

My adventure took me to Pitsboro to meet up with a blogging friend that I have not met IRL. 

 I got to see her studio and we went out for lunch and to a neat little shop.  

Many of you probably know her but it was Bea Lee, from Bea Quilter. 

 I did find out, for anyone interested that you say her name like BEE-A  not just BEE.  

Enquiring minds want to know.  

We had a great time. 

 It felt like we were long lost friends!!  

All in all the trip was great.  

I was anxious to get home to my dad.  

Seems like every time he goes into the hospital he comes out with a little less mental acuity. 

 I had the difficult decision to engage Hospice for him.  

His dementia has worsened and I really want to keep him out of any more hospital visits.  

They can treat his frequent UTI's from home now.  

So far he is holding his own.  

Oh how I miss this girlie!

So that was my last week and this week has been pretty much dad duty 

(he was not discharged from the hosptial until Tuesday night) and trying to catch up at home. 

 How was your week.  I missed you guys!

~XOP~

Baby Shower and Dad Update

The big day of the baby shower (and the move) was on Saturday.  

I had all my Onsie's prepped and ready to go. 

 I gathered up the food I needed to bring and got all the games ready too. 

 Here was where the food was going to go.  

My SIL did a great job decorating over this table too.  

Wait until you see the adorable centerpieces she made!

Here is a view of the room as we were setting up.  

That's the dad to be in the far back. 

You can see that I put each Onsie in a bag and hung them on a clothesline.  

That way each applique was with it's Onsie and could be done as a little kit.  

When finished each Onsie would be hung back up on the clothesline.

We played a few fun games.  

The first one was using 10 jars of unlabeled baby foods numbered 1-10 guess what was inside.  

No one got the first one...Guava!!  

ahahahaha.  

That was funny.  

Then we had Liz (the mama to be) take a tray of items all around the room and 

had everyone use their powers of observation.  

After she had gone to all the tables and back out of the room, 

I proceeded to ask them all about what Liz had been wearing!  

More fun. 

 Lastly they had to use crete paper to determine how large the baby belly was.  

My very creative SIL made these centerpieces for all the tables.  

The bottom layer on some of them are afghans that she knitted.

Same SIL had alphabet pages for us to draw a picture on and color.  

Then put our name and what we drew.  

She was going to get them laminated and make a book for the baby too.

Here is my page.

I had a little ironing board set up and everyone chose a bag and 

came over to me to either build and fuse their applique or just fuse. 

 I made up some of both kinds.  

One of Liz's friends made the jellyfish.

Here they are all fused and ready for me to stitch around.  

The ones that were built will be cuter when they get their faces sewn on!

I made a chenille blanket for the baby too.  

I think she liked it!

Last but not least thank you to everyone for your concern for me and for my dad. 

 I left the baby shower and drove home to drive to GR for the big move.  

It was quite a day!  

I drove a car, my daughter and her boy friend drove her Jeep Liberty and my hubby 

and son took our truck and the snowmobile trailer.  

We made quite the caravan!  

We spent the night and drove to the apt on Sunday morning to begin the packing.  

Eric (BF) and I went to get the cart and 

we had just gotten back into the apt when we were told the elevator had stopped working.  

OMG how were we going to move an entire 2 bedroom apt on the second floor with no elevator??  Those three guys carried every single box down the stairs and into the vehicles.  

Meanwhile all the elderly of the building were stuck on the first floor as they can't do the stairs. 

 Since we didn't know how long that would be my hubby told my daughter to t

ake Gizmo (her peacock) down stairs and entertain the masses. 

Meanwhile more packing and carrying of stuff.  

At some point (in the million degree apt) we were down to the furniture. 

 What to do, what to do? 

 Thank God the elevator got fixed! 

Seriously I offered up a prayer at this point. 

We got all the big items downstairs and loaded up. 

 Last to load was my dad's chair.  

We put the peacock in his lap while we were packing and the both fell asleep. 

 Dad and bird had a BIG day!

After we finally got on the road we were about 20 minutes into the 2.5 hour drive home 

and he asked me if we were there yet!  

When we finally arrived he told me it was a million miles away and

 he didn't think we would ever get there!  

As it turns out the boxes I needed got packed first so he had shirts but no pants! 

I still have to get to all those boxes but I went shopping in the mean time. 

I have been over to his new place the last 2 days after work and he is settling in quite nicely.  

He likes the people and the food, which is good.  

He told me yesterday that whenever he needs/wants something someone immediately gets it for him and he really likes that!!! 

 So fingers crossed this will be a good move for everyone.  

He did ask me how long he has to stay here. 

 I told him forever. 

 Hopefully that's ok. 

 I am looking forward to being able to see him more and spend time visiting rather than running around and cleaning and doing errands.  

(See his shirt?  I cross stitched the MSU emblem on it)

I appreciate all the support I have received from all my online (as well as my real life) friends. 

 I will keep you posted.  

~XOP~