Ups And Downs

My mother called me yesterday, about 5:30 in the evening, to see if I was all right. I immediately thought, "Oh no", because I realized it was Thursday and I hadn't called her on Wednesday. A while back Mom had an infection in her foot, due to her inability to see very well or feel very much. My sister the nurse got her fixed up and we all agreed to check in on her more often. None of us live close by, so we each picked a day to call. I chose Wednesday, and faithfully every Wednesday I have been calling about 4:30. That is until this week. I forgot. That's the problem with having an assigned time, of course, and I had been writing it on my weekly planning calender, but I didn't do that this week. I made my mother worry about me. That's not good. But as I told her when she called, "I don't even know what day it is," which is sort of how it's been. I have been completely absorbed in my projects here at home, being so busy, busy, busy that I hardly knew up from down. And just to prove it, I have to show you my last project. It has been a while since I did any machine embroidery, so each time is a relearning process. There is so much to remember, getting the machine set up, selecting the colored threads and racking them, putting the proper stabilizer on the garment to be embroidered, and then getting the sweatshirt, in this case, hooped with the design area centered and straight, and finally on to the machine. I got through all of that and began the embroidery. As the first color was finishing, I wave of dread spread over me. I had forgotten to check the orientation of the design, to check up and down direction. Sure enough, it was upside down! Well, too late now. This stuff can't be ripped out without chewing up the fabric. So I just proceeded, knowing the project was ruined. When it was done, I took a photo of it and emailed it to Isaac, who was the intended recipient, showing him what his silly grandmother had done, telling him I would do it over on another shirt, but I was sending this one anyway. He could use it as a play shirt. But if he did wear it to school, he could explain that it was Boeing's new plane and they were testing it by doing a roll over. Well, then Jill emailed me back with her bright idea. I should just add a second plane right side up and we would call it "Air Show Stunt: Boeing Showing Off". And so I did. We are finally experiencing some winter weather here in the Pacific Northwest, which means temps in the 40's, blustery, and wet. It can be bone chilling because of the high humidity. We've all been spoiled by the balmy weather we had in January and February. Yesterday, after I finished the first stage of my up-side-down embroidery and was disgruntled, and Tom was thwarted in his desire to be outside gardening, we decided to go see Avatar at the afternoon showing. SouthCenter Mall is just down the hill from us, where the movie is still showing in 3D. We did a little shopping, had lunch and then watched the show. And what a show it was! It was amazing in it's technology and imagination. There was great beauty. But there was also tremendous violence, and crashing and bashing and gnashing of teeth. Between the monsters and the monstrous humans, there was always something or someone in danger. By the end of two hours I was checking my watch to see how much longer I had to endure. I was ready for it to be over. Finally after two and a half hours preceded by a half hour of previews of equally violent shows, we staggered out of the theater, just wanting to move about freely, safely, and quietly. And then I had just settled in back home when my mother called.