Work from home day 15

Even my introverted self is having trouble with stay at home.  I can only imagine the effect it's having on the extroverts among us.  Days start to run together and even with needing to work weekdays, I still forget which day it is.  Sydney was sure Saturday was Sunday. 

I've spent a little time quilting.  Not as much as I wish I was getting to spend but I have to work.  I got the email the other day that I have to take time off or lose some paid time.  Not going to let that happen, so I'm taking half days off and this week, should be able to take a full day. 

I got two blocks of the repro quilt done.  They take a couple hours each, but it's time I don't have to think about anything other than where the needle is going to pierce the quilt.  I ended up going with a larger scale clam shell in the outer blocks and it goes really well with the smaller scale in the two center blocks and I am happy with it.  It's still not in style of the quilt, but so what?  It's going to be a very nice quilt and I've already come up with an idea for the sashing. 

But, even as nice as that is, I still need distracting other things to do, so on Saturday, I baked.  I made blondies, which are like a butter and brown sugar cookie bar with pecans and chocolate chips.  And, I made three loaves of some of the best bread I ever made.  It's a very rich recipe and kind of dense (I see why most people double the yeast).  but it's rich and creamy and makes a great sandwich.  I'm sure I'll end up making more later...I'll run out of flour before I run out of yeast. 

Yesterday, I dragged a chair that's been a problem out to the deck to work on it.  You can see the broken webbing on the bottom and you might be able to see the springs hanging down.  The black dust cover on the bottom was holding the whole thing up.  I ended up stripping it down and replacing the webbing on the bottom and re-tying the springs. 

We're painting the bedroom a medium gray-blue and keeping the khaki curtains.  I found the perfect fabric at JoAnn's a few weeks ago on markdown.  It's been sitting around waiting for me to decide it was time to take on something new. 

It's not finished.  I worked on it about 7 hours yesterday and all that's left is the piping around the back and attaching the backing fabric.  I may take the front apart and add some staples to get rid of that slight scallop along the front...or I might just live with that.  And, yes, that center stripe will also match down the back of the chair.  Because I can do that. 

The yard is starting to put on a spring show.  Things seem to be blooming a little early and that's likely due to the warm winter we had. 

This is an iris my Mom gave me.  Last year, it went nuts.  This year, I dug and divided it and only one side is blooming right now.  I hope the rest will start to bloom soon. 

Don't know where this yellow bearded came from, but I'm looking forward to a lot more bloom from it. 

This amaryllis came from the neighbor across the street.  She had them blooming profusely over there for years and when I was taking care of her yard, I took one random bulb and brought it home.  Now, I have a nice sized clump. 

I took the diabetic cat to the vet on Monday after our trip to the emergency clinic.  They ended up keeping her overnight for two nights.  She wouldn't eat for them and they weren't letting her walk around and they were worried about her not eating and not being able to stand up and move around.  On Wednesday, after every promise to call and update me had been broken, (yes, I get it, they're very busy.  I'm cool with that) I called and said I'm coming to get her. Of course, that got me a call back.  I think the vet wanted to keep her another day, but I didn't let her entertain that idea and an hour later, I had my girl at home.  I know her.  She's not going to eat off schedule and she's not going to eat unless Rob puts it in front of her.  She wouldn't eat Weds, but on Thursday, she was in the kitchen at 4 when Rob went to feed.  She ate some and started drinking.  By Friday, she was demanding food and we started giving her insulin again.  Over the weekend, she got back to her old self as far as eating and drinking.  She's still having some trouble moving around, but can walk the length of the house and the other day, when I was pursuing her with another spoon of food, she trotted away from me, just like old times.  We're not under any delusions.  She got through this time, but every time she gets really sick, her new normal is a little less than she was before.  We're looking at this as a reprieve and as long as she doesn't appear to be in pain and is demanding lap time and belly rubs and purring loud enough to hear across the room, we're going to enjoy her being here.  And, when that changes, we know we will have to let her go.  BTW, the treats in this photo were the third handful I offered her.  She ate the first two right up.

Sydney came to stay with us on Tuesday when the city issued the shelter in place order.  She brought all her games and entertainment and all the food she had.  I'll be really honest.  We get along better when she's not living here.  She's kind of a butthole.  That first day, I told her I wasn't going to ask her to do things but expected that she would find things that needed doing and do them.  Of course, she didn't, so on Friday night, after I'd done dishes for 45 minutes (she baked an experimental cake on Friday and left the dishes for me to do) I told her that if she expected to eat my cooking, I expected to see her back bent over the kitchen sink more.  Saturday night, she acted like she wasn't going to do anything and without saying a word, I stood in the doorway and took away all options except doing dishes, and without complaining, she began to run the dishwater.  She washed, I rinsed and dried.  We actually enjoyed talking while we worked.  Last night, I washed and she rinsed and dried.  There is truly no free lunch!  Everybody contributes in a time of need.  At least around here. 

Every body have a great week!  If you're staying at home, which you should be, I hope you're finding things that are fun to do.  This is hard.  But, it's necessary.  Don't listen to the pompous orange asshat in the white house.  Listen to Dr Fauci.  I've already decided that I'm social distancing until he says it's safe to stop.  He is the adult in the room and is a hero, as are the gas station attendants, cashiers, stockers, police, nurses and doctors that are keeping the country running right now.  When this is over, I hope we have a new respect and a new pay scale for them all! 

Be well! 
Lane