Mom died 1 1/2 years ago now and I feel I am progressing along...a lot of personal readjusting with her passing. Dad is handling things as well as he can...so, so sad at his partner's passing but trying hard to keep going. Makes me sad to watch him go through this. Winter is especially hard though...can't get outside much.
I had to quit my job due to my health. The allergies that have plagued me for years had turned quite worrisome in the last couple of years. The typical symptoms had now turned life threatening, particularly to smells. My job at the hospital (which I really loved) became a real threat to me due to perfumes worn by staff and visitors. I seem to be able to deal with the smells relatively well in life using a multitude of medications but when you sit in the aromas for 8 hours a day there is no way to combat the symptoms enough. I had to take Allegra twice daily as well as Zyrtec twice daily and up to 8 Benadryl daily as well as steroids just to make it through a day of work...and then I was sick for 2-3 days at home recovering and then had to do it all over again when I went back to work. It became not worth it. The funny thing is, once I quit work we honestly didn't miss the pitence I made in salary and I wasn't sick anymore and I didn't have to commute 40 miles anymore and I was able to wean off of all of the drugs except a simple twice a day Zyrtec and an occasional Benadryl. No brainer. I was a bit worried I would feel isolated at home...NOTTTTT! Love being home, sewing, drinking coffee, NOT BEING SICK, and being able to visit with grandkids with a more open schedule and spending more time with Mark (who had had to witness my sad, sick lifestyle with no way to help me).
The flip side is that I have now had the pleasure of catching Influenza A which turned into pneumonia and Influenza B which hasn't been as bad but is still a nuisance. You see, I have had flu shots for at least 15 years while working in healthcare and this year, after I quit my job, I kept meaning to get flu shot but cheapened out at having to actually pay for one this year rather than get it as a benefit at work. Between my immune system kind of a mess due to the allergy thing and not getting a flu shot but yet being around my sweet grandkids who are exposed to EVERYTHING at daycare, I have managed to spend quite a bit of time sitting around home recovering!
Happily now, I am almost recovered from everything. The good part is it gave me plenty of time to sew and catch up on a few projects. My goal this winter was to actually quilt the six quilts I have had sitting around, work on the CQJP 2013, and finish up a multitude of CQ projects.
In the meantime the horrendous event occurred in Conneticut with the terrible shooting at Sandy Hook school. Several of the stitchers on the HGTV message chat boards are coming together to produce a memorial quilt that is to be presented to the community of Newtown, CT at the end of the school year or on the anniversary of the tragedy. This quilt will hang in a public building yet to be determined as a tiny memorial to the innocent victims in this shooting.
