Nearing the End of 2010

Now that Christmas is past, our children and grandchildren have gone back to their own homes and I have taken down the Christmas decorations I had time today to work on a project or two of my own.  Normally I leave the Christmas decorations up until mid-January but since I have shoulder surgery scheduled in a week I wanted to get everything back and the decorations put away before then.  I am hoping that the surgery will not be too bad but had surgery on the left shoulder 7 years ago and it turned out worse than they thought before surgery and I had quite the recovery from it so I am not counting on simple until it is all over.

Today I first worked on doing a little more machine quilting on my basket quilt.   Not sure I like what I did so am letting it sit while I think about it.  I put it up on the flannel wall and looked at it every once in a while this afternoon...still don't know.

This evening I pulled out a beading project I had started many months ago.  It took me a while to figure out where I was on the pattern though.  This pattern is hard to follow anyway as it seems to be just a photo of a finished project instead of a graphed pattern that for me is easier to follow.  I am checking off every other row with a different symbol so I can keep track of where I am on the pattern.  I did scan the pattern photo and reverse it so it would work for me to bead it left handed.  Patterns seem to be all written for right handed people.

I am thinking I may be able to do beading after surgery even with my right arm in a sling.  I am left handed and most of my work is with my left hand.  I think the right fingers could hold the project without putting pressure on my shoulder.  Guess I will have to wait and see.

I am also preparing for not being able or wanting to do any cooking after surgery for a while.  The last several weeks when I make a food that can be frozen I have made at least a double size recipe then froze meal sized portions that would feed both John and I.

It was so nice to have the frozen entrees when I broke my ankle (our daughter, granddaughters and friends made and brought food that I portioned out and froze until needed.)  So far I have enchiladas, spaghetti sauce, steak pieces for stroganoff, chicken and noodles, chili, ham slices, ham balls, and have the ingredients to make lasagna tomorrow plus I still want to make some meat loaves too.  That should help me out for quite a while.

Think I will even do this after I am recovered as getting an entree from the freezer already made has been so handy  We didn't eat everything that was in the freezer when I was laid up with the ankle and have enjoyed having it there to use when I am busy or don't want to take the time to cook from scratch.

Oh, by the way, no one noticed I didn't put out all the Christmas decorations....am seriously considering downsizing the decorations I keep in the boxes before next year so I am not even tempted to put it all out again.  The grandkids noticed the stockings right away and had to find the one with their name.  One son in law even recognized one stocking as having been made from a pair of his old jeans....he recognized the small round hole that was in the bottom of the jeans when he wore them.

Until later,
Lynn