No new update of Ralph, really.  So far, all of his tests have been in the normal range, so no knowing what is causing his issues, and he has been referred to a kidney specialist.  He saw that specialist last Friday.  Now he is doing weekly blood tests, urine tests and weigh-ins.  No news on those tests yet, just monitoring him for now.  When he went in for his tests yesterday, he stopped by his regular doctor - the skin on his shins is deteriorating due to the pressure from the swelling.  He now has his lower legs wrapped in ace bandages and has more pain pills, and instructions to keep his legs higher as much as he can.  Lovely!

I pulled out my knitting looms this weekend - I had yarn left over from this hat I made for AJ - I didn't post the picture before because I take terrible selfies....!

Here's the hat I made with the loom - it went to AJ's friend Jeff - at least it is supposed to - I need to check with AJ and see if he gave it to him.

Saturday night, Meredith and I went to the Fur Ball - a fund raiser for Another Chance Animal Welfare League.  We had a lot of fun - and Meredith won two of the raffles she entered.  She did share with me, so I guess that's fair!

During the Olympics, I worked off and on on a doily - mostly off, I think.  It is a small doily - about 9 inches across, but I did get it done during the Olympics!

I also went shopping for backing for my quilt - here is the backing and the edging - not too bad!

No word on what's wrong with Ralph yet.  He had a sonogram on the blood flow in his liver on Tuesday and an Echo-Cardiogram on Wednesday.  The nurse called last night, and his heart looked fine in the EKG.  She hadn't heard on the sonogram, and was going to call (Ralph had moved his original appointment - she hadn't realized he had had the test yet).  The doctor is going to start the process of referring him to a kidney specialist now - assuming the liver looks good too.  All we are doing now is ruling things out, not finding out what is wrong (though that is always a possibility - they just have to do the right test, I'm sure!)  Ralph always has been difficult!

Alex and I went for a walk Tuesday afternoon - before I picked up Alli.  They have closed off the 'dirt area' where we usually walk the dogs, so....no long walks with the dogs running free.  I don't blame the owners of the property - too much junk was being dumped there, and too many people came out to go mudding there.  The roads have been torn up more recently than I remember in the past.  Alex and I have been looking for a new place to let the dogs run within walking distance.  So far, no luck, but....we are exploring more with the dogs, so they are happy.  This is the bridge over Meadowview just before you get to Granada.  There was one lone daffodil blooming out in the field.  I think my cell phone has a great camera - these came straight from the phone.  They could use a little editing, I'm sure, but.....not too bad for a phone!

Woohoo!  What I did on my day off today:

This is the quilt that I started in September - and got the last of the fabric in December.  It took me a while, but....I finished it!  This one has so many placement mistakes that I don't think you can tell that there was supposed to be any order to the blocks.  I think that must be a good thing - it doesn't look too bad.  I won't try to have it professionally quilted though - I'll save that for a 'good' quilt.  Ronna was able to take my mediocre quilt and make it look fabulous, but no need to waste that much effort on one that doesn't even start out as mediocre.  My points are better, and I really did learn a lot on this one.

My other project this weekend was to design a bookmark for book club this month.  We are reading the Divergent Series, and I knew I wanted to try to duplicate the symbol on the fronr of the book.  Here;s the book:

And here's my first attempt - trying for the 'fuzzy' edges of the fire.  Not too pretty good.

And here's my second attempt - much better!!!

What I did with my quiet Sunday:

I actually just did the outside border of the blocks yesterday - the centers were done last weekend.  Even that took me a lot longer than I thought it would.  Here's what I have done so far:

Pretty!

We had a windy, windy day yesterday.  High winds blew more branches down out front (and AJ had just picked them up)  Then last night, it decided to rain - and rain it did!  We got almost half an inch of rain in a very short time.  This morning, it was clear and sunny!  I was fixing Alli's breakfast this morning, and noticed the sun shining on my begonia in the window,  I don't think this quite captures it, but it was so pretty!

Then, I noticed that it was blooming too!!!

My camellias are blooming too - at least the first of them.  My bushes bloom at different times, so I have flowers for a long time.  This is out my bedroom window.  Picot followed me in, and then back out and into the kitchen.

Where she then sat on the table and watched the birds out on the feeder.  The tip of her tail is flipping around.  (And she didn't help me fold the clothes, either!)

Who knew there was a thing as too much sugar?  The bank sponsored my department to go to "Eat Dessert First" (Life's short....) last night.  It's a fundraiser for One Safe Place (formerly known as the Women's Refuge)  There was nothing but wine and sugar there.  Any type of sugar you could imagine - fudge, cupcakes, cake, pies, chocolates, bread pudding, a chocolate fountain (I stayed away from that one - ick!) and more.  I only ended up eating a half dozen choices - too.......much......sugar......!  It was a fun event and packed - I spoke with a participant that I knew (his daughter has a bakery named Sweet Spot) and he said that they had sold out - 500 tickets!  Then there was a raffle, a live auction, and the wine was $5 a glass (not that I wanted more than one glass - I did have to drive home, after all!)  I did have some peanut butter and crackers on the way in, just to try to balance everything out, but....it wasn't enough.  I came home at 7:00 feeling just a bit queasy from sugar, and I still had to bake sugar cookies for Alli!  (She has a Valentine's party today at school AND at daycare!)

Alli had an appointment yesterday with Dr. Cooper.  Her eyes are healthy, and she still has a slight astigmatism and is slightly nearsighted.  We tried glasses on her a couple of years ago, and she wouldn't wear them.  Dr. Cooper told me that most 'normal' teenagers with her eyesight wouldn't wear them either - her eyes aren't that bad.  She did so good at the appointment.  I usually bring skittles to move around so she looks where Dr. Cooper wants (look up, now look to the right.....) but I forgot this time!  She still looked at me when I asked her to, so it was all good.  Dr. Cooper was impressed at how much she has developed emotionally and intellectually.

Some of my recent projects:

I finally made a doily.  it's been a long time, but....I finished one yesterday.  This is a smaller textured doily - hard to tell from the picture, but it was fun to make.  (It's also a dark red....not the best photo)

These are the bookmarks for book club this month.  We read Rebecca - not my favorite, but since it was technically a romance, and we are meeting right before Valentine's Day, they get hearts.

I also whipped up a little heart hat for Elora

This morning, since Alli and I were the only ones moving around much, I got quite a bit of quilting in.  Here's what I started with this month...

What the finished blocks will look like

The larger pieces of material cut up into smaller pieces....

The insides of the blocks are done.  

Not too bad for a rainy Sunday!

Now it's time to say "poor Allison".  She got off the bus yesterday at daycare and immediately threw up (poor Steve - Sandy was gone at the time, so he got clean-up duty - she was evidently a mess!).  She seemed fine after that, so they didn't call me, and then a few minutes before I was due, she threw up again.  Great.  She seemed perfectly fine when I got there, and seemed quite happy.  I gave her a shower when we got home, got her tucked into nice, soft, clean clothes, turned on Pokemon for her, and she stayed happy until I was fixing dinner.  Time for another shower.  Once again, she seemed just fine, but she didn't eat anything, and took herself to bed at 8:00.  I got up once in the night with her (changed her clothes and her bedding) and she slept in until 7:00.  (So did I!!!)  So far this morning, she seems fine, but.....I thought that yesterday too.  Today is my quilting club, but I'm giving it a miss.  Bummer!

We are getting a nice soaking with this rain.  The weather station is calling for another inch today, and I think we are supposed to continue to get rain all week - Hallelujah!

Poor Ralph - he just never seems to catch a break.  Last Friday, he woke up with swollen feet and abdomen.  He saw the doctor on Saturday (not his regular one, but one that he has seen before in the practice) and he ordered tests.  Wednesday, Ralph went in for a sonogram on his abdomen and blood tests.  Yesterday, he saw his regular doctor, and the tests were inconclusive (but did rule out a bunch of nasty things) and he goes in today for a CT scan.  In the mean time, they doubled up his water pills and told him to reduce his fluid intake.  He now has a permanent (at least it feels like it to him!) case of dry mouth, and the swelling hasn't gone down.

We, at least, are finally getting some rain - almost an inch in the last 24 hours.  By our normal standards, not much, but....this isn't an ordinary year.  We'll take all we can get, and it is snowing up in the hills - we'll take that too!  I had to run errands yesterday on my lunch, and I enjoyed getting drizzled on - a nice change!

Here are a couple of the baby things I made.  The rattle has a couple of bells in it, so it jingles.  It is also supposed to be a sheep, but it turned out more like a bear this time.  I've made the pattern several times, so I don't know what I did differently this time, but.....at least it is still cute.

This is a cute little button-down bunting with a matching hat.

I did finally get  my wall art up in the office.  These aren't the best pictures, but.....it's done!

I stayed up late last night, finishing a book (and of course, Alli was up early!  Go figure - I have to wake her up at 5:30 for school, but yesterday and today she was up at 5:00 all by herself.  She knows!!!!)  I definitely recommend it - Jewel by Bret Lott.  Maybe I'm biased, but it about a woman dealing with a daughter with Down's Syndrome - born in ~1944 (They called it Mongolian Idiot at that time) and her struggles to keep her daughter at home, educate her, and even dealing with her future when she is old.  It deals with her relationships with her husband, all her children and their relationship to their sister, the South in the 40's and 50's, California in the 50's and 60's.  A very good book - worth staying up late to finish - I think.....we'll see if I can make it through the day without a nap.

I have a problem....I'm out of crochet project ideas!  I just finished up the baby things I was making (pictures later) and the bookmarks for book club (and that isn't until the 13th!) and don't know what to start next.  Nothing sounds inspiring - which is odd for me.  Usually, I have a list of things I want to start as soon as I get half way done with my current project.  Maybe it's time to switch things up and work on a doily or an afghan.  I haven't worked on any of those types of projects (not counting the baby afghan) in a while.  Hmmmm.....

Ralph's suffered another health set-back.  He woke up in the middle of the night Thursday, and his legs and abdomen were swollen.  He had a doctor's appointment this morning, and has now doubled up on his diuretics, and goes in Monday for a sonogram and blood tests.  Just when he thought he was getting better.

AJ went in to town with me today and helped me load up 4 bags of bark (much easier than usual - we haven't had any rain, so the bags are dry,  Usually, they have been sitting out in the rain at the store and are heavy!) and a dozen stepping stones for the rock area behind the pool.  Ralph brought in a bunch of rocks last weekend from Auntie Inez's place (they have the house in escrow) and I put them around, but...they need to be rearranged.  That is on the agenda for tomorrow, along with some sewing on the quilt.