My Covid-19 Reality

On March 20th, Illinois Governor Pritzker issued "Shelter in Place" order until April 7th.  This means citizens of Illinois are to stay at home as much as possible.  We can still go get groceries, go to the doctor, get gas -- essential things.

For a couple weeks prior to the Shelter in Place order, my employer began proactive steps to keep the employees healthy -- extra cleaning of frequently touched surfaces, limiting people other than employees into our office buildings as well as having employees going between buildings, and encouraging those who could work from home to do so.

Once Shelter in Place took effect, I was set up to work from home. 

So far, it's working pretty well.  The CEO of our company holds video conferences twice a week to keep all of us informed as to what's going on with Covid-19 as well as the company.

Today was the first day I left the house in a week.  No one is allowed in my house except for me and the pup.

Today, the governor extended Shelter in Place until April 30th.  Since April 7th, there have been 937 new cases of Covid-19 in Illinois bringing total cases to almost 6,000.  There have been 26 more deaths bringing it to 99 statewide.  In my county there are 6 cases and thankfully no deaths.  Testing is limited to those over the age of 55 who show symptoms.

By day, I am working my job.  By night, I've been busy making masks.  My niece is a nurse and she's been told they are to reuse their masks until they can't be used anymore.  My cousin works in an essential retail business in TN.  The grandmother of a five year old girl with asthma asked me to make a mask for her to wear to the doctor's office.  I've made 33 masks in four days.  Elastic is on short supply because a lot of people are making masks so I've started making some with ribbon ties.  HERE is a good article about sewists making masks across America.

Adult Masks

Child Masks

I've seen a few people online say that after a while the elastic bands make their ears hurt.  I came up with a headband solution where the elastic can be attached to large buttons.

Another cool thing going on right now are Windows of Hope.  Since most of us are stuck inside, people are decorating their windows sending out messages of love and hope.  You can read about it HERE.

Despite all the gloom and doom, fear, news of Covid-19 sickness and death not only in the U.S. but all over the world, there's some humor coming out as well.

And for the kiddos:

If neither of those leave a smile on your face, here's a pig eating ice cream...

Until next time....  Stay safe and well!

Out With The Old, In With The New

Recently, I had a really nice surprise come in the mail.  My stitching friend, Deb, asked me if I would like an adult coloring book featuring Japanese Woodblock Prints.  Yes!  Japanese artwork is so beautiful.  Most of my long time readers know that I have an Okinawan (Japan) heritage so this coloring book was right up my alley.  This isn't just any coloring book, though.  It shows a color print of the actual artwork and the history of the artist as well as a corresponding coloring page.  It's VERY cool!

 

 

Thank you so much, Deb!



STITCHY STUFF
The end of 2016 brought several finishes. 

Handmade Charlotte kit by Buscilla

Wood ornament stitched with cotton threads

Christmas Wishes

Designer: Alita Designs

Fabric: 14ct Cream Gold Lurex Aida

Fibers:  Cotton threads leftover from misc kits

Embellishments: Ricrac, Grosgrain Ribbon, Gold Seed Beads

 

Woolly & Cosy Ornament

Designer: Valentina Sardu 

Fabric: 28ct Antique White Cashel Linen 

Fibers: Cotton threads leftover from misc kits

Embellishments: Ricrac

 

I ended 2016 with a total of ten finishes. Not as many as I'd like, but a stitch is a stitch, right?  My finishes can be seen HERE.

The beginning of 2017 started off with stitching on Japanese Garden.  You heard it right... I pulled out JG.  The last time I worked on it, it looked like this:

 

 

As of today, I finished all the gold brackets and most of the purple Jessica stitches.

 

 

WORK

After having 11 PTO days off work, today was my first day back.  Talk about busy!  Tomorrow will be just as busy.  I don't know if I mentioned it... a few months ago, I took over project billings for the office I work out of.  It has consumed my days at work.  It's challenging and I seem to learn something new every day. I thought it was ironic that the first day back for the new year is Festival of Sleep Day. LOL

 

 

EXERCISE

How many of you made a New Year's resolution to lose weight, exercise more, blah, blah, blah?  I joined a gym a few months ago... a nice perk provided by my employer.  I had been going 3-4 times a week until December hit... holidays and cold weather have thrown my schedule off.  I seem to do better when I go to the gym directly after work. Zumba classes, weight training, swimming, stationary bike, and elliptical are the things I do in rotation.  Tonight was my first night back... weight training, biking, and elliptical.

 

I'm going to leave off by saying that I wish all of my readers the very best 2017. May the new year be everything you wish for.

 

 

Where did I leave off?

Oh yes... my cough and pending trip to Florida...

I went to the clinic at which there was no doctor available so I saw a nurse practitioner who prescribed antibiotics.  No surprise there since that seems to be the "cure all" solution whenever someone isn't quite up to par.  I took the last of the antibiotic the day I left for Florida.  The cough was still there.  In the days following, it got better (while in Florida).  As soon as I got back and stepped outside the airport, I could feel the familiar tickle in my lungs and within a couple days my cough was back.  It leads me to believe it's allergies and allergy induced asthma.  Oh fun.

VACATION
On to better things!  My trip to Florida.  It was the first time I used an airport hub located only 40 minutes from my home.  I met two sets of teenage girls who were so polite it restored my hope for teenagers, LOL.  I took some awesome cloud photos from the plane, and saw my first sunset from the air.

 

The weather was beautiful... in the 70's (while back home, it was in the 40's).  It was a bit humid the first couple days, but got better the last few days.  Either that, or I was getting used to it.  Went to several places and saw lots of things...

First up is the Florida Botanical Gardens.  It was interesting to see all the plants and flowers. The funniest thing I saw there was a sign that said, "Please Don't Feed or Molest the Alligators." LOL

 

 

 

The next day was a trip to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. 

 

Every hour or so, they had a "Meet and Greet" where the aquarium employees talked about different animals.  I got to meet Shelly the Penguin after the penguin meet and greet. 

 

 

There were several tanks where people could touch the undersea life... being a touchy-feely person, I *had* to touch everything. LOL

 

 

One would think catching the sun set at the beach would be a simple thing.  Nope.  Tried for three days... the first two evenings were very cloudy despite being sunny all day.  The last evening was a success.  Along with a beach picnic at Ft. Desoto State Park, a beautiful sunset presented itself.  Another first... I've never seen the sun set while sitting at the beach.  I highly recommend a picnic at sunset!

This is another of my favorites...

Made some new friends at the beach:

The days flew by, and there was not time to see everything.  I guess I'll just have to go back!

WORK
This week, I had my first performance review with the new employer.  My boss told me upfront that he 'grades' strict.  Sure enough, on paper, he did.  Yet, verbally he discussed how I've accomplished tasks other project assistants have not (Technically, I'm a project accountant) and that I have the capability and capacity to do more.  The performance review lasted 3 hours!  He went over point-by-point all the line items of the paper review.  Long story short, the project managers want me to be 'more agressive'... that I have no boundaries as far as getting things done even if it means spending more money (lol), and I essentially have to babysit them after I ask them for information (nice... not).  Right before I left for vacation, I was given a pro-rated bonus and told I received a 3% raise.  I figure I can't be doing too bad despite the mediocre paper review if I received a bonus and a raise.  Hard to believe it's been six months since I left my previous job.

STITCHY STUFF
Readers may recall that I finished A Marriage Is back in December.

It was supposed to be a one year anniversary gift for my niece and her husband, but I didn't get it done until December 24th... a few months after their anniversary.  With her crazy schedule and social life, it took me three months to pin down my niece in order to give it to her.

I kitted up Promise Me by Lizzie Kate to stitch while at the airports and on the plane.  Sitting by the window provides great light.

A lot of my readers know Deborah.  I recently had another overnight visit with her.  She's doing much better, and is moving to an assisted living home.  I believe tonight will be her first night there.  It's with mixed feelings she's leaving her home she made with her husband Max and their furbabies, but she also knows it will be best to have help immediately available if she needs it.  There are guest rooms so she's already invited me to her new home!

We had a great time chatting the hours away and stitching.  I took Promise Me with me to Deborah's to stitch on while we were chatting.... made good progress.

Sometime during my vacation, Palko sent out Part 4 of the Words 2016 SAL.  I had so many emails that I didn't see it until a few days ago.  I wasted no time in putting the project back on the qsnaps, LOL.  Part 4 finished:

I've been remiss in participating regularly with the Throwback Stitching sponsored by Carolyn at Stitching One Day at a Time.  There's also a Facebook group called Throwback Stitching where finishes are shown along with stories that pertain to the project.  Here's my latest "throwback":

I stitched Painted Ponies back in 1995 and made it into a photo album cover.  That year, I made photo albums for each of my sibling's families as well as for my parents.  I filled each album with photos I'd taken during the year... pertaining to each family.  I also put captions next to each photo, LOL.  This one went to my oldest brother.  I had each sibling open their gift in order of age.  By the time it was my youngest brother's turn, you would've thought he had ants in his pants as he couldn't sit still waiting (He was 23 at the time!) because he could see what the others had gotten.

ANOTHER MONTH GONE
Months just seem to fly by, don't they?  Time to say farewell to another month.

End of Year Catch Up

WEATHER
Our first snowfall of winter occurred on November 23rd. Ten inches of heavy, heavy (Did I mention "HEAVY"?) snow fell. Starting out, I was able to clear the backyard with the snowblower.

While trying to clear the driveway, I fell backward into the snow. Landed on my rear end and jammed my knee into a screw on the snowblower. It's almost healed. I can't believe how long it's taking!

Then the shear pin broke on one of the augers. Since I couldn't get out of the driveway, I couldn't go get another one. This meant shoveling by hand... for the rest of the day! Because of this, I'm now suffering from tendonitis in my elbow. Thankfully, a passerby offered to help me clear out the remaining third by the street. Who says there aren't good samaritans?

Once I was able to get out, I went out to get new shear pins and promptly repaired the snowblower.

Up until today, my area only saw one other snowfall... a light dusting. Today... oh today... brought sleet and freezing rain. All day! Most of us at work left early. There's about 3" of sleet on my driveway. I don't know how I'm going to get it cleared.

WORK
December 14th marked the 90-day anniversary at my "new" job. So far, it's been going pretty well. I have three project managers I work under. One is in another state so I've never met him. A second is very good at explaining in depth everything I need to know... and then some. The third forgets that I'm new and doesn't take the time to explain unless I ask for clarification on how things should be done. The first month was spent training in other offices near Chicago. I went to a seminar in near Chicago to learn the basics of construction industry accounting. The trainers gave out candy for anyone who answered questions.

At the back of the training room, this sign covered a good two-thirds of the wall. I really liked it. It's so true!

FAMILY
A couple weeks ago, I became a great auntie for the third time. Let me introduce you to Annyia Rose. She is so tiny and adorable.

COLOR CRAZE
You may or may not know about the adult coloring craze that's been going on the past several years. I decided to download a coloring page and dig out my art supplies from years past. I started this floral design a few days ago.

I'm really enjoying working on this. I've used cheapo Rose Art and Cra-Z-Art colored pencils since they're what I had. On each flower, 13-15 colors were used.

STITCHY STUFF
I participated in one Christmas ornament exchange this year. The person I sent to was not the person I received from. You may recall from a while back, the flat snowman ornament I did. It went to Jenn in TX.

Design: Heads UpDesigner: Cherrywood Design StudioCherrywood Design Studio
Magazine: 2012 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue
Fabric: 28ct White Linen
Fibers: DMC
Embellishments: Handmade cording,
DMC memory thread arms, fabric scarf
I received the cutest ornament from Char in PA. Thank you, Char!

I also participated in a card exchange. Marina in Canada sent me an adorable angel ornament. Thank you, Marina!

CHRISTMAS
I really wasn't in the mood to decorate for Christmas this year so all I can show is the many cards I received from friends and family.

For Christmas dinner, I made Italian Roasted Chicken, Roasted Mixed Vegetables, and Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy.  It was soooooo delish!

In my next post, I will be showing my two finishes.  Stay tuned!