Happy Sunday!!!

And make amazing things!

Happy Stitching!

 Emmy

Dumb dust bunnies!

Visit from Mr. Frog, a kidnapping, and the Happy Hobo, Oh My!

  Ha! How's that for sounding dramatic? Don't worry, the kidnapping is in the book I'm reading. But for us bookworms, that tends to be just about as serious as a "real" person being kidnapped. Anyway, I sat down to stitch and realized that Mr. Frog was about to pay a visit....

  Apparently, I felt that the second story didn't need windows! :) At least I hadn't stitched too terribly much on that line. But when I realized that I needed to do some frogging, I also happened to see my book laying on the table as well. Which made me send this text to Mom: "I was going to stitch for a bit. I even took it in hand... then I saw that I needed to do some frogging... and then I remembered that the 17 year old girl in my book is still missing. And it would be very irresponsible to leave a 17 year old girl MIA, especially since she may be in the clutches of her potential would-be murderer. So there's that...." Granted, autocorrect changed some words, but thats what it was suppose to read. I ended up frogging and stitching a bit instead:

 I like the varigated thread I'm using, I just wish it would fall where the deep red and the bright red fell together in contrast more often. Hmmmm, I might have to work on that a bit more!
 Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go try to rescue a 17 year-old-maybe-kidnapped-girl.
 I hope all of you are as happy as the Happy Hobo calling everyone a rock star and handing out free advice that we met at Kum & Go after dropping our patient off at Big Town Hospital (he totally could've gone to Local Hospital, but the nursing home and his guardian were insistent on Big Town. Ah well, so it goes!)

Easter According to a First Grader

 so, Kirstie was telling us about a first grader at her church earlier this week. This first grader had brought her little sister to the front of the church after services to look attheEaster display. This consisted of a cross, a crown of thorns, the nails, and a purple cloth draped over the cross. The first grader explained to her little sister that the crown of thorns is what killed Jesus. She explained that the nails were used to hold Jesus to the cross. She then tilted her head, a bit perplexed, as she said, “ I don’t know what the purple ‘M’ is for.”  A brief, thoughtful pause ensued until she stated, “Maybe the ‘M’ stands for mammals. Cause we are mammals and He died for us. Yep, that’s what the ‘M’ stands for, its mammals.”
  I hope that you and yours have a glorious, Cadbury egg filled, Easter! And that we never forget that He is risen!
I was trying to find the  perfect Meme-picture thingy for today. I instead found several, so here are a few of my favorites!

Mystery Book

To the rescue!

  So, the "other thing" that I had mentioned in a previous post was that my heart occasionally likes to beat faster than the situation warrants without any apparent reason. It first started about a year ago, maybe a little longer. Anyway, my old Dr. didn't really care about the why. She said if it continued, she could always start me on a beta blocker. I was not a fan of that plan, so I didn't ever mention it to her again. The nurse practitioner that I now see at a different Dr.'s office is taking it super serious. Which feels kind of weird to me, especially after the last Dr.'s attitude. It also makes me have far more confidence and trust in the care that she provides. Anyway, all of my lab work came back normal, aside from what was expected to be off due to illness. Oh, and my magnesium was very minorly elevated, which is  totally random, so that seems to be in line with me in general. The 12 lead that they did there was also good, albeit a little tachy (fast). Thanks to that, I have to wear a Holter monitor starting yesterday late morning and now into Wednesday around 11. Let me just say, this has not been the highlight of my life. The nurse had placed large patches of 4" foam tape over the electrodes and leads, and that stuff itches like crazy, especially when I sweat!! And my goal is to not sweat since I'm not allowed to take a shower until the stupid thing comes off. Which means the whole "continue with your usual activities" or whatever isn't going to happen. And I'm a bit nervous at work, because if we run certain calls, not taking a shower is not an option, at least not for me. I did half rebel today; my lower half got a shower, my hair got washed, and the rest of me got a baby wipe bath. Just for the record, baby wipes only get you so far.
 So, Mom was still on crutches yesterday morning and a very disgruntled (picture a wet cat) me had a heart monitor. We made quite the pair. We also decided that Hopalong Cassidy and HeartMon were going to ride again and save the world! We are very entertaining when left to our own devices together. We came up with all sorts of scenarios and super powers together!
  Today hasn't been so bad at work. Minion had traded the A shift supervisor, so I've got a much calmer partner today. We haven't done much. We stayed at a structure fire for 30-45 min. I had to finish QAing reports, so I didn't get any stitching done there. :( On the upside, I got a ridiculously long nap in, so the shift is still going by fast. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep from last shirft; I was awake for 24.5 hours before I managed to get a hour's sleep before going home. I had given up my nap for Minion's Pokemon Go, which made it all a bit worse. And also means that I'm highly unlikely to give up a nap for one of Minion's games again.
  Here's where I left off on The Sunflower House:

  I'm hoping to get some more stitching in today. I'm also working on a book and behind on my journaling, so maybe I'll miraculously get a bunch done!
 I hope youns are having an awesome day and that your needles have been flying!
 ~ Emmy

In which we learn about Pokemon Go

  So, apparently Minion is addicted to the Pokemon Go app. Which explains why he has been messing with his phone so much more here lately while driving (its about to become an issue. He got the app about 1 month ago. It may not be responsible for all of the increase, but I don't feel that folks should be messing with their phone whlile driving, especially while driving an ambulance, and especially when we have a patient. Because if I'm with the patient, its so much harder for me to help them drive while they're freaking DRIVING DISTRACTED!!!!!!! Mind you, these are also the first people to point out that a driver was on their cell phone when they caused a wreck, and occasionally, their own demise (we can tell because they die with their phone in their hand...). Oh, the irony.

 Any who, we drove around the town park while he played the app. Again, I wish I could've drove while he did this, but he did pull over to play the game (he probably knew I would throw his phone into the duck pond if he didn't). So, while he played and told me the finer points of Pokemon Go, I stitched and texted Mom. I did have to give up my nap for this (I had just laid down when he asked), but I did get a few rows stitched.

  Sorry for the terrible photos; lighting is horrendous today. 

    At least I got some stitching done!!! Hopefully, I'll be ok without the nap. 

   

Happy Stitching!

 Emmy

Sunshine, Tulip House, Class, and Drugs, Oh My!

Well, today has been a dreary day so far. And my sun-shiney personality (snort) appears to be on break today. Along with the actual sun.
  Anyway, there is not much to report. I slept through my first several alarms (I have a slight phobia about sleeping through alarms. Parly, in thanks, to the rare day like today.), so my day started off a bit rushed, but it turned around quick enough that I was even able to take the time to make my bed before leaving for work. Work has been kinda eh today. We ran one to Big City today. She kept changing the complaint. I think saying that she was having mental issues should cover it. She had recently gotten a scary diagnosis, so the nursing home workers (who did not say what really qualifies as "recently"), Minion, and myself all feel that that news is probably the reason for all of this today. At least she was a lot calmer in the truck. And I got to drive. Which means that I got to listen to my music!
  My Dr.'s appointment yesterday did not result in much stitching. I recently switched health systems, and I'm still not use to this new system actually caring about my time. I mean, how weird is that? Seriously though, a company that acknowledges that I am a person that has a life (such as it is), and that this life probably keeps me busy, is an odd thing, at least around here. When I had my taxes done, the wait was pushing 2 hours and that was with an appointment (the walk ins were escorted right back. Lesson learned: if I am dumb enough to stick with a company that I don't really trust and that charges outrageous fees, I should not make an appointment.). But I  digress. I only got half of a half stitch in because my thread broke. And then my BP was a tad bit high because the nurse scared me half to death when she called my name. Seriously guys, my nerdy, bookish, introverted lil self literally jumped. At least there was only one other person in the waiting room. For some reason, when I sat down a few rows over from him, he moved clear over to the opposite side of the waiting room. I;m going to tell myself that it was just because he is an older gentleman and didn't want to risk contracting my cough (that is definitely partly due to asthma; the other part, I'm not sure about.). I'm pretty sure that wasn't why, but I was perfectly polite (I am well trained, after all. Thanks, Mom!), and I took a shower right before going there, so I shouldn't have stunk. Oh well, not my problem.
Here's the picture of the rows of the house that I mentioned in a  past post + the half-of-a-half stitch that I stitched there:

  I also took a picture of what I call the Tulip House. I took the picture for my Mom (she loves tulips), and thought that youns might enjoy it as well:

  I can't wait for it to warm back up! Just to the 70s or so though; we don't want to get too crazy, this fluffy gal does not like to sweat!
  Oh, just to talk some more about my general awkwardness, I went to Walmart after the Dr.'s appointment to pick up more allergy medicine. And, me being me, I decided to look at the magazines. The Aurora Walmart use to carry a whole bunch of cross stitch magazines, but then they got rid of them all. Because hope springs eternal, or some such crudoodle-ry, I keep hoping that they will magically bring them back!!!!!!! So, I'm bee-bopping right along, pushing my little  cart, and cutting through a toy aisle to avoid people (its been too peopley in my everyday life lately.), I start to have an allergy/mild asthma attack. That progressively worsened. Now, the layout of this particular Walmart is convenient; the magazines are just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the bathroom. Specifically, the back restroom which does not have as much foot traffic. Also, I am like a lot of other asthmatics; for some strange, inexplicable, completely insane reason, we do not like to use our inhaler in front of people. Its like using the inhaler is admitting we have a problem. Which we do. Its just asthma for crying out loud!!!! Its not like we are doing drugs (well, I guess we technically are. But they are legal, prescribed-by-our-Dr-or-in-my-case-new-favorite-nurse-practitioner drugs!!!!!)! And, if the people around us would look up from their cell phones for 0.2 seconds, its not like we could hide the fact that we just might be having a real actual problem or something. I mean, pride will help you walk fast (comparatively speaking), but when it goes cough-choke-wheeze-pause for breath-try-to-take-a-step-rinse-and-repeat, you can't really hide the fact that everything is not, in fact, quite all right at that particular moment. Plus, my face gets more flushed than the only toilet in a building containing 967 women with smaller than average bladders, and my eyes tear up so much from the coughing part, that an exceptionally pungent onion would have been proud of the trigger's handiwork. Yeah, it was quite the entertaining experience.  Except for the poor girl that I half scared and almost ran over. She was so polite too. Aside from slightly widening her eyes, she accepted my choked out excuse me (she technically had the right away), played it cool,  and apologized for being in the way (she was not in the way; I just couldn't take a deep enough breath to get the words out to tell her that she was a perfectly delightful young lady that had the right of way since she was walking down the main aisle of Wallie World and that she was super sweet and polite when the coughing, crying, wheezing bumbling bookworm got in her way).
  Yep, typical me in all of its class. Someday, I should write a book about all of the embarrassing stuff that has happened in my life. Except, such things happen at such an alarmingly rapid rate, that I tend to quickly forget them. Or maybe I like to live in denial and pretend that everything is perfectly normal and that I am not an embarrassment (I prefer entertainer) to society. Hmmmmm, yeah, I don't really care about the why of my forgetfulness, I just wish I could do the remembering so I could entertain folks better when I am either forced or choose to be in their presence. And so I could share it with all of youns here.
  Well, I was hoping to get a nap, reading, writing, (I am not going to put arithmetic down, don't you go worrying about that!), and stitching in today. Instead, I've sorted through emails and read some blogs. I was going to take a nap, but both of the other trucks are out and if I try to nap now, we'll probably be guaranteed a call. And I don't want to get wet today. Usually I don't really care as long as I don't get soaked, but today the thought of being rained on has my face contorting into the same expression a cat's face does when you tell that the mop bucket of water is for their bath. That said, its raining outside and my eyelids are getting super heavy.....
  I hope you are having a great Saturday!
 Happy stitching (and napping!),
 Emmy

Hopalong Cassidy and MudBud

  So, Mom tore her meniscus (its inside of the knee) on Sunday, while I was at work. She's currently on crutches (they look child-sized- she is just 4'11," so they might be), and is getting along really good with them. She's been McGyvering solutions all over the place to figure out how to carry stuff. She was even trying to plot out how she was going to vacuum the other day. Normally, I fully encourage creativity, but I had to shut that idea down. She is a nut. A very, very, very stubborn nut. Who gave birth to a daughter that is equally stubborn and nutty. So, it works.

So, that was the Hop-along Cassidy part, now on to the MudBud part. Miss Daisy is very much like her presumed father; she absolutely adores mud. 

 Well, I don't really have much to report on the stitching front. And by not much, I mean nada. I was hoping that would change today, but we ended up taking a psych LDT.
  I hope that youns are had an amazing day and that you got to enjoy some sunshine wherever you are at!
 Happy Stitching!
 Emmy

My Unplanned Hiatus

 OK, so I really, really wish I had some sort of hilarious story to share with you about why I haven't posted in almost a month. Unfortunately, I don't. It started with sinus/allergy stuff that morphed into a sinus infection. Oh, and my asthma decided that the weather changes had made it grumpy (this is completely normal for me in spring and is no cause for alarm). Then, when I got over the sinus infection (steroids helped), my allergies and asthma decided to amp up again, and coughing fits during the night have left me looking like I've lost a fight with someone that has both a mean right hook and a mean left hook (again, this is a completely normal spring for me- apparently my body doesn't like for the winter hibernation to end, although my mind and heart are still doing a happy dance for spring!). Now, my lungs are currently in time out. I'm planning on grounding them because I think this is starting to be a bit indicative of me catching the respiratory crud that has been going around at work. And I caught the stuck-on-a-toilet-while-hugging-a-trash-can bug that has been circling through work, home, and the daycare Mom works at. Unfortunately, that hit last Thursday....while I was at work.... yeah, that sucked. (I'm feeling much better from that, although I still get a little nervous when I have gas. Sorry guys, us paramedics have no shame....). The allergy/sinus/asthma/potential respiratory issue/something else is still a problem, but I'm tired of not being an active participant in my life. Plus, this next batch of steroids is giving me a tad bit of energy for a short time a day. I'm going to blame my winter fluff (OK, OK, its my usual fluff- all of the recent Dr.'s appointments have been a steady reminder of this. Grrrr. ) on the steroids. Surely it can't be from the chocolate....and the Pepsi......and the sloth-like lifestyle of the past 2-3 weeks (or months), could it?
  Anyway, enough about the general bleck of my health and that of those around me. Onward to the pictures! And the stitching!

There are also a couple of rows to the house now. I forgot to upload photos to google photos for a while, so my phone has been working on that since sometime yesterday, so no more recent photo right this moment. 

Smokey has kept me well entertained with his crazy sleeping poses!

 Daisy has been a regular MudBud just like her Dad. Sadly, no pictures. The Great Outdoors is not my friend right now. 

  We got to go to a Francesca Battistelli concert on the first!!!!!!! (I just had the asthma/allergies then- I was in between the sinus infection and the current respiratory and former, ahem, GI issues,then. Praise the Lord it all fell that way! Her concert was awesome! Sadly, a friend (I've made a friend- miracles do still happen!) wasn't able to make it, but Mom, Kirst, and I all had a blast!
I'll try to upload the video about the story behind her Free to Be Me song. It is hilarious!
  So, more about the friend comment. I finally found a new chiropractor since my former one retired like months ago (procrastinate, much?). And at this new chiropractor's office (I believe she is nicknamed Gypsy here), they offer massages. Something that I have never done before. But then I started. And it is pretty amazing! So, the lady that does (did- she's moving to a different chiropractor's office) the massages for me is suuuuuuuuuper cool. And we've hit it off. And, to quote her comment about me to someone who asked if we knew each other outside of the chiropractor's office, "No, but I like her, so we are going to be friends." Now, for a little introverted, bookwormish, nerd, such as myself, those are like never heard words that is  one of the most exciting phrases! Just for the record, I consider all of youns to be true friends, which is a title I don't give out easily and I truly cherish our friendship. I'm just also excited to have a new friend that might be free to occasionally go for lunch on occasion, chat with, and do whatever normal people do with friends (any advice here?). (If youns are ever in the area, let me know, I'd love to meet youns in the very flesh!)
  So, I recently (as in last night) started reading a book called "The Next Right Thing" by Emily P Freeman (gotta love the name, right? ;) Anyway, I have some big decisions that I'm in the process of making. Some of them probably won't have to be made for a few years (guess what my little procrastinator self is probably going to do with those ones?). And I tend to stress over big decisions. I'm so scared of making the wrong decision, that I can make myself pretty miserable over it. Anyway, her book is all about helping people like me find out how to have a healthy system of making decisions. I knew I would love her book as soon as I cracked it open to see this as her dedication:

And of course my geeky little self just *had* to text a picture to Mom. 

I feel like the future of my decision making is in good hands with her because that sentence alone tells me that she gets it. Anyway, just thought I would share in case this would be helpful for any of youns. I'll try to share more about the decisions soon. You guys I trust, so I'm sure I'll be sharing all of my yo-yoing on these decisions here. And probably some of the other stuff going on.

    I hope that youns have had an amazing Sunday with those that you love. I'm at work, so I'll take my leave to eat a snack now. :)

Happy Stitching!

 Emmy