I haven’t slept well for the past couple of nights. Why, you ask? I’ve been waking up every hour to go pee. The deal with my bladder is that I need to drink lots of water. That also helps with muscle spasms, by the way. The problem is, no matter how much I go before bed, something kicks into overdrive when I fall asleep and an hour later, I’m up and visiting Uncle John.
Today I planned to sew some half square triangles because I’m currently obsessed with them, press and topstitch key fobs and maybe go for a walk later. Instead, I think I’ll be taking a nap.
In other news, I’m currently reading Imagine Heaven, a book about near death experiences. This topic has always fascinated me. I’m also reading American Muckraker, and a couple of dog training books. My sweet Peachy got me some transparent sticky notes and a way cool pen for Christmas, so my dog training books are now bristling with notes. Yes, I have fun with pen and paper.
Easter was quiet here. Just me the Bear and the Maverick, a huge ham and a big bowl of corn. There is a plethora of ham left over so there will be bean soup in the crock pot tomorrow. Bear and his son love my ham and bean soup, such a simple food that brings so much pleasure to the people I love – so I’ll make a huge batch so some can be frozen and some can be shared. There is so much ham that I’ll be making ham and green beans next week. There will be enough of that to share as well.
The monster quilt top is complete and I found fabric for the back. Hopefully today I will sew the backing to fit and get it all layered with the batting. Crawling around on the floor pinning will mean I have to go whine about how much my back hurts later. The sweater that I started for the great grandchild who’s due to make his arrival in 3 weeks is being frogged. I dropped a stitch about 4 rows in, and this pattern isn’t one that will allow it to just be woven back up. Of course not, this pattern is doing battle with me every step. Christmas pinwheel blocks are sewn and being squared, and a bunch of puppy pinwheel blocks are about to be squared up as well. The sewing machine is humming these days, and I’m loving it. I’ve made about a thousand wristlet key fobs and I’ve decided to give it a shot at selling them on Etsy. When I open the shop, I’ll make an announcement here. It’s not a terribly user friendly interface, but I’ll figure it out. I’m thinking I’ll list my bracelets as well. I don’t expect to get rich but it would be nice to have some extra money to buy yarn. (That’s a joke, I’m one ball of yarn away from my own episode of Hoarders)
We got to see the first great grandson the day before Easter. Maverick was, to put it mildly, batshit crazy. He was completely over the top, almost knocked my granddaughter down, tore a hole in the netting on the PackNPlay and ended up relegated to the front porch, where he barked nonstop for over an hour. So. Mommah had a long talk with herself and realized that changes need to be made, this chaos can’t go on. I’m working on a “lesson plan.” Last night when I picked him up from daycare, his usual “dash out the door and body slam Mommah” move was cut short by me turning my back, and the owner – who is also a trainer – turning him around and taking him back inside. On the fourth try, he sat nicely beside her until she released him to me, and then he sat nicely beside me while we talked. Self control is the name of this game, Maverick and you will become a master at it if it kills me. ***
The bay, our first great grandchild, is 6 months old. We’ve only seen him a few times, but I think he likes me. He stole my glasses and put his fingers in my mouth – something only one other child has ever done. And then he fell asleep in my arms and slept for nearly two hours. Was my arm broken? Well, yes it was. Did I mind? Hell no I did not.
In other news, since this has taken me too long to finish, Maverick is doing very well with polite greetings! His norm has been to bodyslam me when he comes through the office door for pickup from daycare. On Monday, it took four times till he sat patiently and waited for me to take his leash, and then sat beside me for a good ten minutes. Tuesday it took 2 times for this to happen. Last night it happened on the first try, but he had to try again because of demand barking – nope, not putting up with that either. Holy cow, he really CAN practice self control!
I’m reading a book called As A Dog Thinketh, which has a daily passage about training and living with dogs. Yesterday’s made me think of a fellow blogger – about how you feel when you have to let a dog go who only wants to bite you. It’s a very nice book, I’m enjoying my daily read.
***(DIsclaimer: I rarely get serious here and I hope you all understand how much i love this dog. He saved my life when he was a puppy and I was so deep in mourning Max that I could barely get out of bed each day. I will do anything for him. And therein lies the rub. He is spoiled to the point where he’s out of control. He’s a teenager demanding the damned car keys and telling his parents to shut up and don’t even think about imposing a curfew. It has to stop. My body has taken a toll and it’s not fun. There will be no drastic measures, but there will be enforcement of rules and a great deal more training. Nope, you’re not getting the keys to the Mercedes, kid, even though it is technically your car)
Suziecreamcheese Sings the Blues 
