Feeling better

I can't believe how much time has past since my last post! Thank you all for your concern regarding my recent health issues. I have been making a concerted effort to get more rest but it definitely is cutting into my stitching time! I don't have the option of quitting work at this time so I have to tailor things in an effort to slow down the pace. My doctor talked about taking a stress leave which I didn't really want to do. My employer hounds anyone who takes sick time which is a stress factor in itself. However I had a Godsend this week which will definitely help. In 2004, the hospital in which I work combined with the other hospital in town to become a new community hospital. Both hospitals used different payroll systems and vacation accrual. In the past we had to have worked a full year before vacation was earned whereas the other hospital earned their vacation on a daily basis. Consequently we were behind by one year. In an effort to equalize the system, our employees were given an extra year's worth of holidays which amounted to 6 weeks for me. Well over time I have used only about a week's worth of those extra holidays but we have been told that we have to have them all used up by September of this year. I still have 5 weeks left in my bank in addition to the 7 weeks which I now earn. That means I have a heck of a lot of vacation time to use up this year! Wahooo!! I'm booking off a few days every few weeks as well as taking off a number of afternoons. This should really help. I started by taking off today since we had another winter storm scheduled as well as 3 days next week.

Thank you Dani for nominating me for the You Make Me Smile Award! The rules are to pass it on to 10 people whose blogs bring me happiness and inspiration and make me smile. I can't pick any favourites anymore. I love reading the blogs of all my stitching friends. You all make me smile and bring me loads of happiness and inspiration. I haven't met a better group of ladies yet! So consider yourselves awarded, one and all, and know how much I enjoy you.

As I sit here writing this we are in the midst of another winter storm. It started this morning and continued to snow until mid afternoon . It looks like we got about another 6-8 inches. Since then we have received some freezing rain on top of things. My DH just went out to do some shovelling and says that now the snow has returned. It can't seem to make up its mind what it wants to do out there! I received some stash in the mail today that is very appropriate. It's one of the new Waxing Moons designs, Let It Snow. I also received two of the mitten ornaments by JBW- A Nordic Mitten and French Country Mitten.

I recently joined the Christmas Ornament SAL. On the fourth weekend of every month they have a virtual SAL. As luck would have it I happened to be working for January's weekend. However it was a fairly quiet weekend and I did make quite a bit of progress on my ornament. I started one from the JCS 2003 ornament issue, called Christmas Joy by Angel Stitchin. It's got a cute little bird sitting on the end of a snowman's nose. I'm continuing to work on this one as well as Warm Winter Wishes over this weekend. Both are great travelling pieces which I can take to work with me.

I also spent some time over the past two weeks on my CdC SAL. The first week I'd completed about an hours worth of stitching when I discovered that I was off by one stitch. So I spent the rest of the evening with the frogs and re-stitching the area. This week I was able to make a little more progress. I love working with the silk threads on this one. In answer to Laura's question, the threads I'm using are silks by Vikki Clayton in the colour Dragon Hoard. They're so much fun to stitch with.

My son's cat Tugger is visiting with us at the moment. It appears he has the same problems as Finnigan. My DS called me at work last Saturday to say that the cat wasn't eating or using the litter box and did nothing but cry. I called our new vet who was too busy to see him but said he had to be seen because it sounded like a blockage. I wasn't impressed when she wouldn't fit him in so I called our old vet where they still had Tugger on file. Although he was closed he said he would meet me at the office as soon as I got off work. After examining the cat he felt it might be due to hairballs and said he'd like to hang on to him for a few days. They ended up having to give the poor kitty some IV fluid the next day since he was dehydrated from not eating. Sure enough hairballs seemed to be the problem. I suspect that that's Finnigan's problem as well rather than a food allergy. The vet told me that the recent winter thaw which took place has screwed up a lot of the animals' shedding cycles. Consequently they are digesting more fur lately than normal. I know Finnigan is shedding massive amounts of fur lately. Both kitties are now on a special Fiber formula diet.

I'd originally planned on taking Tugger home to my son's place today but since he lives in Cornwall, plans were cancelled with the arrival of the storm. So Tugger is spending a couple of days here and I'll return him home on Monday. He seems very pleased to be away from the confines of the vet's cage and was running around like crazy here today. Things caught up with him though and this is where I found him sleeping tonight. He's lying on the mantle above the gas stove where it's nice and cozy.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us which is why I took off 3 days next week. Since Tuesday is also Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday, I'll be flipping flatjacks at the church. The choir puts on a pancake supper at this time every year. It also involves a silent auction as a fund raiser. DH always volunteers a boat ride as one of the bidding items which usually ends up in a bidding war!

I hope all of you have a great weekend and thanks again for all your well wishes!