It's been a while, a year older and what's happening in my world lately

 Goodness has it really been over a month since I posted on my blog, time has a way of flying by without notice at times.  I turned 66 years old on the first of July, my son and daughter in law took me to lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant and heeded my No Cake rule, settling for cake for dessert after lunch which we ordered by the slice which we took home because we were way too stuffed to eat it.

A few days later my sister and great niece Tessa who is now 8 took me out to lunch too.  And wouldn't you know it brought along a cake, with an edible chocolate candle.  After lunch we came back to my house and had cake.  It was good, so good in fact I packed it up and sent it home with her.  My brother in law has a big sweet tooth and honestly I am not a big cake person and since the abdomen problems my appetite has been so off and I knew it would go to waste.  I'm more a salty person than a sweet lover.

My sister let my Tessa pick out a few things for my birthday and I have to say she has good taste. The tote bag is a Leoma Lovegrove design and I just love her art, she is a south Florida artist and her designs just speak to me. (I bought a lovely wallet, sunglasses and a stainless steel cup for myself in May). There is also a lovely straw hat and plush beach towel. Not in the photo is another stainless steel cup, a personal fan and a frames photo of my son and Tessa together,

On the morning of my 66th birthday I has the follow up appointment with my cardiologist to discuss all those test.

There seems to be a problem with blogger, I know I wrote an entry for the first day of summer with me still undergoing all the test my cardiologist scheduled.  Well it was lost, this is the 3rd time a post was lost I lost a post on Mother's Day in May and a post after that as well in early June.  I wonder if anyone else is having that problem.

Well after all those test one of the first problems we are addressing is the obstructed arteries on the left and right side of my neck so next week I am having stents put in also another stent to one of my heart arteries. This isn't an answer to the abdominal pain but if it wasn't for that I would have been clueless.  

The other problem we addressed is getting my heart rate up, it's been in the mid to upper 50's for about a year but in the last 6 months or so its been in the 40's which is too low. Well to fix the doctor dropped the dosage from one of my blood pressure medications again this time to 25mg.  After the first week I'm happy to say my heart rate is back in the low 60's where it should be and on a happier note so far my blood pressure has been in the normal range.  Now the heart rate thing may have been avoided because last year when I was in the hospital and my heart rate was so low the doctor there dropped the same medication to 25 mg.  But after a month I went back to the old dose of 100 mg.  When I first saw my cardiologist he dropped it to 50 mg.  and when that didn't improve the heart rate it went down to 25.  How about that the doctor at the hospital knew what he was doing all along.  I am not always a good patient.

The stent surgery is an out patient procedure and I should only be in the hospital 6 hours, I have to bring an over night bag in case a problem arises.  I just hope the arteries aren't too obstructed like the ones in my abdomen and they can get the stents in.

All this is a blip on the graph compared to my youngest sister who just had a implantable cardioverter-defibrillator inserted to restart her heart if necessary. Right now her heart is working at 15% compacity and life gets scary when you are in the ER and the doctors stop your heart and restart it to regulate the heart beat.  I'm so glad they were able to restart her heart.  

Okay to other things, stitching has been coming along quite steadily with my June goddess Yemaya stitched, I need to wash off the stitch and wash product and will iron it soon, she was completed on June 30th. This photo is before she was completed, all those little stars and flowers are not going to be in the completed piece, I plan to add a few beads and shells.

I started the July goddess Isis on the evening of the 2nd of July.  She is coming along rather nicely.

 I used these two images for inspiration, the Katherine Skaggs prayer card and the figurine, I thought the hashing lines would make a nice texture for the clothing.

Progress on this is steady though I stopped on Friday evening when my thumb started aching from the needle.

I'm trying to decide if I like the metallic thread for the ankle cuffs, well I have plenty of time to decide,

I am also rethinking the collar, I should have made a print out and used colored pencils to test colors, oh well snipping out threads is unpleasant but nothing I haven't done before.  

I recently purchased a new stitchery book, this one Mystical Stitches by Christi Johnson spoke to me.

I have also felt that stitching for me was like a ritual of sorts, when I make something for another person I always think good thoughts for that person.  Similar thoughts or intentions go into my goddess and healing dolls.  Reading the book I felt like the writer was speaking to me directly or had pulled thoughts from my head and put them on paper when it dawned on me that other people feel the same way about their stitching work.   The book covers the basics of hand embroidery, tools, fabrics, floss and threads and stitches.  It includes how to make the basic stitches, how to prepare your hoop and trace fabric.  It's a good book for the beginner as well as the seasoned needlecrafter.  There are pages of symbols and includes full size patterns to get you started.  I follow the artist on Instagram.

I am linking up to Kathy's Quilts today https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2021/07/slow-sunday-stitching_01989290241.html 

Oh I just noticed my Happy 4th of July photo never posted either. Gee I sure hope this one gets posted.

Oh made it through Tropical storm Elsa with lots of rain and now the yard is overgrown and my lawn guys haven't appeared in a month so it's time to replace them, this isn't the first time they haven't showed up and we had some nice days before and during the storm.

The two photos show the rain flooding my driveway, usually the rain doesn't come up to the covered patio.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Summer.