Matching gardening aprons for daughter & granddaughter.

 Samantha asked me to make her a gardening apron sometime last fall. I found some thick cotton canvas at Fabricville and used a 1940's kitchen apron pattern to make Samantha's apron.  I basically made it as long as the pocket and used the extra length to double it to make it more solid so that garden shears, and other assorted items don't feel too heavy.

For Mado I used a normal apron pattern that I shortened and added a pocket.  I didn't make hers as sturdy as I figured she would mostly use it to carry garden pickings like cherry tomatoes...

 I like working with patterns because my sense of size varies. I'm not good at figuring out the base size for anything. At least with a pattern it's a starting point and I modify around it accordingly. You could argue I should use a measuring tape and measure. Sure. I can. BUT I mix numbers in my head so often that it's best if I don't do that. I can forget halfway that I meant to use a 1/2" seam but then realized I did a 5/8" seam. Never fails .So I don't trust my brain to size things properly.

Gardening Apron for Mado

Gardening apron for Sam

I modified B to make the Apron

Sporting the aprons

2018 started weird for Izzy

My poor daughter, with her brain surgery ended up with 21 fucking staples holding her head together after the surgery.  She's been home with an IV, and will be taking antibiotics by IV till mid march. She sees a CLSC nurse daily who changes her bag.

Now she has Shingles, because having brain surgery wasn't stressful enough!!!! Boy am I happy that I got vaccinated against shingles in December.... at the same time I got my tetanus and diphteria shot.

So they sent me a photo

Of the back of Izzy's head. She had 21 staples. Count them. 21!  Her scar looks about 6 inches long. Crazy!

When we do things we don't do it half ass! And hopefully this is the last of the surgery. I mean in 2016 Sam had surgery to remove a Cyst in her breast, that left a 6 1/2 cm hole that had to heal from the inside and took I think nearly 3 months. Then there's my skin cancer surgery in 2017, and now Izzy with two brain assesses.

Izzy is going to be OK

So turns out the lump over her cerebellum was 2, yes 2 abscesses

Izzy said to me last night "Surgery went well. It's an infection, no tumour or cancer. Lots of antibiotics in my future but generally good news".

She will be seeing the infectious disease doctor in the following days, as she also had 2 cysts in her armpits in the fall. That seems odd to get cysts and abscesses all in a short time.

My baby is at the neurological institute like WTF

So Izzy messaged me yesterday to say that she'd had the mother of all headaches for days and went to hospital, they did CT scan and found a bump over her cerebellum.  So they sent her to the neurological institute where they are monitoring her until they can operate.  They are also supposed to give her an MRI to know more.

Like WTF?????

My baby is 28!!!

My baby, Isabelle turns 28 today. I hope she has an awesome birthday!!!!

Here's wishing things will become easier for my daughter

My eldest has had a busy 2016. For starters, she has been pregnant, then her husband got transferred from Halifax to Ottawa, and of course the move was just a month after the birth of the baby.

The birth was not particularly easy, and the baby was big. And of course then comes the fun of breastfeeding your first baby. While I managed to figure it out, I do distinctly remember that the first month of breast feeding was no picnic. Between the giant hickey I got the first time I ever fed her, and the sores and engorgement I had to navigate through, it took a while to master breastfeeding. Thankfully, usually you navigate through problems with child #1 and after subsequent children are easy to breastfeed. Hell I remember saying to my therapist that most women go through breastfeeding hell the first month with their first born, and if they manage to navigate through it then it's smooth sailing for future children.

While I was bugged about my tiny breasts and that I'd never be able to breastfeed anyone it was never an issue. So in my mind, my daughters who have bigger mammaries were going to have no problems breastfeeding. As it turns out each size might have their own challenges.  My daughter spent the first few weeks afraid she was going to smother her baby while feeding her. I could see it in her eyes. And Madeleine like most babies had to learn to breastfeed and from what I was told had a 'tongue-tie" which made it harder for her to feed. This seems to have disappeared recently as she grew

My daughter started also complaining about feeling a lump. She did all things recommended for that and did not get relief and finally consulted a doctor.  As it turns out it wasn't engorged, but she ended up with an ABSCESS, in her right breast that was 6 cm DEEP and 4 1/2 cm wide. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK??

I've had an abscess in my thigh in my bikini area that started as a boil after shaving. By the time I saw a doctor I needed to have a drain put in it for a week and had to wear skirts until it healed and I still have a scar there.  Here it was probably an ingrown hair that got infected. What the fuck gets infected INSIDE a breast??? Apparently this happens to 3% of women.

She had to have emergency surgery on Saturday, and spent more then 24 hours at the hospital.  She currently has a deep wound in her breast that was measured to be 6 1/2 cm deep.  It has to remain open so it can drain and heal properly so she has to go every other day to see a nurse, recently a deep wound specialist, so that it heals properly and that the oozing crap draining out of her incision does not pour over the baby. That tends to make moms feel very uncomfortable.

The whole family

She's so cute.

THe dogs were distracted.

Last day in Beaver Banks, Nova Scotia

Odin wanted to be in the photos

That's a sweet Zeus

I like to Rock!

Izzy puts Zeus on her lap.

And then, there were three

Since December 2013, my friend has been living in my basement. I had offered her to stay in my basement to give her opportunity to find a job in Montreal. Sadly the unemployment rate for people with limited French in Montreal is really high and she could just find a cleaning job which barely paid for food and gas to get around. But it was better then Oromocto.

Since May 2015, my youngest daughter has been staying with me since coming back from the UK. She was hoping to find a teaching job, but finding teaching jobs in Montreal in English school boards is almost impossible. With all the austerity messages and the cuts at the English school boards, she has not found much. It's really sucky because my daughter is highly qualified and has an awesome resume. She was hoping to move out before the end of the summer, but asked if she could stay till October to save up more money. Don't get me wrong she's working hard at the pool, but this is not a good paying job in comparison to what she could make teaching.

In mid August I asked my significant other if he wanted to move in along with his daughter. He did and has been living with me since sometime in August.  That means that about 3 weeks ago at some point there was 8 people in my house. THere was my friend, along with her 3 visiting children, my daughter, my SO and his daughter. Wanted to take a photo and should have...

So my daughter moved out on Sunday. Her dad came down from Ottawa with a bed and a moving truck and helped her get things out of my house. Though I'm really sad she has not found a job, I am happy for her.  She's going to be 27 tomorrow and she is in her own place. I remember being in my 20's and wanting a place of my own.  I never had a place of my own till I was nearly 40. Always lived with someone.

My friend was planning on moving to Norway sooner then later, but now she has to go back to New Brunswick because her asshole ex, got training for 4 months and possibly work for months, where he won't be home.  Sadly her youngest, now 13, was so traumatized last year by Beechwood school he never wants to come back to school in Montreal. He wouldn't have to go to Beechwood, he could go to PCHS but he's not budging. He likes it in New Brunswick. So my friend is sadly moving back to New Brunswick. At least while she's there her asshole ex won't be.

So as of tomorrow night, there will be just the 3 of us in my house.

My baby is coming home !!!!

Today I pick up my youngest at the airport, she's coming home after 2 years in the UK WOOT

I've been very quiet the month of April, really didn't have much to say, been digesting events and trying to get myself together.I've at least managed to stay out of my comfort zone to not make my social anxiety worse. It's still bad thinking about work and paperwork, but the anxiety isn't 24/7 and burning me to a crisp most days anymore.  I'm slowly getting back to my insomniac self.

It was sad, I'd do 1 small thing that set off my anxiety and then I'd crash and have to take a huge nap otherwise I couldn't function.  On a good day social anxiety does suck up a percentage of my energy. Since March it's sucking up most of my energy and nothing is left for anything else.

This week thankfully the sun came out and I have both done some work in the garden and have gone walking along the Lachine canal and Friday spent some time at the bird Sanctuary near the Lachine Rapids.  Spending time soaking in sun rays and sitting on the earth has been good to recharge my batteries.

On this gloomy first day of Spring

I want to wish my eldest a Happy Birthday, where ever she is sailing today!

My daughter decorates her living space with heavy Walmart artichokes

One of the items my eldest daughter is pleased with is this bigger then life artichoke that she picked up at Walmart. For one it's so heavy that her cat Loche won't toss it on the floor. That is always a bonus when adding accents to a room.  I wonder how she likes her sewing machine, a Janome SUV1108.

Last year I got from the President's choice grocery store, a down vest, from their Joe Fresh line. It was black and down filled, and I loved it so much I bought this years model in olive green.

I also got one for a friend in Olive green and she loves it too, so ended up getting the last men's for my buddy in Ireland. Most of this winter, he's been complaining about how he just doesn't seem to be able to warm up. Makes sense it's always damp in Ireland and that is bone chilling. I mailed the package last Thursday and it got to him today.  He called it a body warmer :)  He says it fits perfectly and was going to wear it today to ride to Dublin.  I'm hoping it keeps him as warm as it keeps us.

My dentist changed receptionist, what after 20 years, and the new ones don't know me very well, so I never got my reminder cal at work, forgot completely I had an appointment. Felt like a heel. But I have poor memory for appointments. Always have. Need reminding.

Skateboarding cat.

Don't know how I stumbled onto this gem but I love it.   Wonder if Toby would learn to skateboard? Things that make you go hmmm.  I wonder if my youngest daughter who used to skateboard as a teen, would have enjoyed a skateboarding Axl?

To my daughter who feels clumsy

It runs in the family. I'm absent-minded and clumsy. And very randomly too. Last night I put my dinner in the microwave for 2 minutes. When I took it out I managed to drop it on the kitchen floor. At least it was not as epic as the curried eggplant of a few years back.

So I had to make myself some form of dinner and there was a giant cauliflower I'd picked up that was screaming to be eaten, so I made grilled cauliflower for dinner. I thankfully did not drop this, or burn myself taking the dish in and out of the oven.

Oven grilled cauliflower

Home Grown Terror

My first experience with home grown terror was with the FLQ. I remember like it was yesterday, the kidnapping of Pierre Laporte in October 1970. I wasn't quite 8 when it happened and I was never the same again.  It was the first time I became aware of something outside my immediate environment.  I lost innocence that day. I realized how scary or dangerous the world could be.

Of course what followed included the Wars measures act, and having the army deployed in Montreal. To this day I'm still a little suspicious of mailboxes.

This week, there was 2 attacks on Canadian Armed forces personnel on Canadian soil. One in St Jean du Richelieu Monday, and the one in Ottawa yesterday.  Terror attacks meant to scare the fuck out of us. Perhaps ISIS incited. After all no self-respecting Muslim would ever join the likes of ISIS. They are nothing more then a terror group and a cult, that kills real Muslims. [70% or so of Syrians are Muslim, mostly Sunni] Canada is supposed to join the US fighting against ISIS in Syria and Iraq and ISIS made threats against Canadians, that we wouldn't even be safe in our own beds.....

For the record, I still support the Syrian people in their quest to not be led by murdering fools. Whether it be Assad or ISIS, neither are good for Syria  or the Middle East. 

I'd like to give my sympathies to the families of the 2 dead Canadian soldiers. They both did die serving their country but they didn't have to die. Gunned down or mowed down by  a car for no good reason except someone was a fucked up dick who instead of giving himself a good swift kick in the ass and getting on with life decided to kill someone else. Cowards really.

My daughter in the Navy called me yesterday to tell me that she was ok, and also that she could be deployed in the next 48 hours and was worried she would have to leave her cats without anyone to take care of them.

Unexpected week-end

This week-end is turning out unexpected.

I had planned to help my gf pick up some of her things in Oromocto. We took my truck because I have a trailer hitch and other friends were willing to lend us their trailer.

Sadly the trailer had 2 shorts in the electric connection for the lights and my friend had to spend almost 2 hours fixing it.   We haven't unconnected the trailer in fear it would  break again, we've been going around with my friends daughter and her car.... 

We got to Oromocto at 4am Saturday morning. Never saw so much roadkill in my life or so much blood on the highway.

Yesterday when my eldest realized I was in Oromocto she asked her bf if he was up for a roadtrip so in about an hour I will be meeting up with my daughter.  I'm soooooo excited. I haven't seen her since Christmas.  Also meeting her first serious bf. It's meet the rents for him :P

Wasn't even sure if I'd be here in 'Mocto or if we'd be in Freddy....But taking the day as it comes.  Still in 'Mocto as I write.

Random fact for the day.

A complete random unrelated fact, there is still a golden sheen on the passenger seat of my Suzuki, from the sunscreen my eldest daughter had on her last summer when we went camping.   I notice it from time to time and it reminds me of my daughter.

She sees 20-20 already!!!

So my daughter called me early this morning to tell me her lasik surgery was a success and as of thsi morning she can see 20-20. She still has some difficulty focusing, but she is so thrilled.  She was almost legally blind before the surgery.

I'm so happy for her, I'm tearfully excited.

Oh and I forgot!

I noticed my daughter who had eye surgery yesterday, liked a Bitstrips cartoon on my Facebook page this morning. This tells me she can still see :)  She said she would call me at work today, because after the surgery she shouldn't be staring at computer screens at least not the first day or so.