be kind challenge: day 11

these arrived at my office today. totally unexpected and completely a random act of kindness.

so for today's be kind challenge, i'm sharing acts of kindness from others again. the strawberries came from one of our guys here at work. he sent a box of humongous strawberries to all three of the girls, thanking us for all our help and wishing us a happy valentine's day. how sweet and thoughtful is that?!

at the same time, i got a box from my hubby containing beautiful red tulips and blue irises in a red vase. it's sitting right in front of my face on my desk so i can enjoy their beauty.

both came at such a wonderful time. i'm still sick... the bronchitis is now asthmatic bronchitis and i cannot stop coughing. during the night, i had such a coughing fit that i was in intense pain from what i thought was a bad muscle spasm between the ribs. then when i got up, i saw the swelling and a faint bruise forming. the pain was still bad and i was trying to hold back tears. figured i cracked a rib coughing. how lovely is that?

so my sweet hubby takes boo to the church day care early, comes back for me and whisks me off to the ER. good news: not a cracked rib. bad news: i separated the cartilidge between the sternum and the ribs from coughing and it's just as bad as a cracked rib. it'll take 6 weeks to heal, once i stop coughing. i'm loaded up with a stronger antibiotic to kick it out of my chest and a prescription for vicodin to help with the pain and hopefully keep the coughing down....nope... i'm still coughing up a storm and i think i just separated the other side of the sternum now. intense and horrible horrible pain.

and i'm at work. my boss is once again trying to send me home, but i took the vicodin a couple hours ago, so i have to wait to drive. what a fun weekend i have ahead of me.

be kind challenge - day 10...

i'm still sick. i feel awful and had to go back to the doctor last night. he gave me even more meds to take...and my lovely upper respiratory infection had to spread. my left eye was jealous of all the coughing and swollen lymph nodes and achy body, so it decided to compete and take on the infection all on it's own. pink eye. really?! i've never had it before in my life.... argh.

but, i'm here at work again because i absolutely need to be here. i came in for longer than i expected yesterday, otherwise i'd have 30+ people forming a lynch mob for their paychecks. today, i have bank deadlines and have to get out the rest of the stuff on time. i took 2 full days off with the weekend inbetween those days. i'm not contagious anymore unless you stick your finger in my eye.

to be nice to the office, i brought in a cheese danish cake. i love danish. i love cream cheese. no, i did not make it to infect the office with pink eye. i purchased it, all nice and sealed up, at the grocery bakery this morning on my way in. just a little something to ease the tuberculosis sounds going on down the hall in accounting.

leah's quilt [be kind challenge day 9]

leah's quilt
Originally uploaded by greeneyedsilversmith

my best friend became a daddy the last week of january. i'm so excited for him and cannot wait to meet the little girl that is his daughter (but they live halfway across the country....)

so i made this quilt for little baby leah, finished it on the weekend and labeled it monday afternoon. it was wrapped and boxed and happily made it's way into the postman's hands yesterday. all they know is that i have a gift for the baby...but if they know me well enough (they do!) then they'll probably expect a quilt or at least something handmade from me.

this is the absolute girliest quilt i've ever made. can there be something girlier? but it should be perfect for a baby girl and has enough turquoise to balance out that pink. :) quilt dimensions: 48" square.

be kind challenge...day 7

i'm sick this weekend, so i'm not doing much in the random-act-of-kindness category other than staying away from super bowl parties so i don't spread the germs. well, i did get my friend to pick up my mom on friday to take her to the ER (which didn't turn out nearly as well as we'd hoped) since my dad was at his own dr. appointment and we couldn't get in touch with him.

so....while i'm sad and pathetic, my hubby is the "be kind challenge" participant. he makes me hot tea before i'm out of bed and gives me a nice kiss on the forehead. he goes and picks up food since he doesn't cook things other than sandwiches. and he's doing the laundry. plus, yesterday, he installed the new light fixture we bought as a surprise for boo's room. boo will be excited when he comes home today and sees it.

that's all until i feel less puny.

be kind - day 4...

it's day four of threaded basil's be kind challenge. i'm participating...really! 2 days ago was my anniversary and despite being super crabby, i cooked a lovely dinner of filet mignon, a pasta/broccolini dish and yummy kalamata olive bread with zorab's spice mix into the dipping oil. mmm... that and i gave snappy his quilted wallhanging. last night, he told me he really loves it. we just need to rearrange things to figure out where it should go.

to go along with the challenge, i figured i'd share a sweet drawing made by boo. it was completely random, as my 7 yr old is quite a bit, and very welcome. i love my rainbow colored hearts and i taped it to one of my many file cabinets in my office. now i can see it every time i look up from my monitor.

it's groundhog day! again!

not only is it groundhog's day.... but it's my wedding anniversary. happy 2 years to us!

will i post a blog every year, like last year? should i start to repeat it, but just change the ending to reflect one of the greatest movies of all time?

i narrowly finished the anniversary present in time. i spent my lunch break monday handstitching the binding and had to finish at home before snappy made it home. i had my short accomplice hold it for photos, moments before snappy walked through the door.







what do you think of it? i've never used a panel before in my quilts and this is my first wholecloth quilt as well. i had wanted to do some piecing around the borders, but time was against me, as well as being shipped an incorrect fabric during the holidays.

snappy loves it. i had planned on giving it to him tonight after dinner, but he gave me a big bag full of "cotton" so i changed my mind and handed it over this morning. we said we were staying simple (although i already gave him his new ring) and he spoiled me with new jammies and sheets, along with pretty earrings. at first, he thought i had it made for us.... then was very confused as to when i put it together since he hadn't seen it. there were quite a few lunches spent with a needle and thread in my office.

any ways it goes... just like my childhood minister, i give this blessed union a thumbs up!

be kind challenge

over at threaded basil, sarah is hosting a great challenge: the bee kind challenge. for the month of february, let's all do random acts of kindness. or just show your family and those around you you care.

she has a fantastic list of inspirations for you if you need some assistance in getting started. things such as:

1. Send someone a surprise package [in the mail! leave it on their desk at work!]

or

9. Compliment someone with reasons [3 things I like about you, etc.]

or

17. Knit/Sew/Craft for a cause.
18. Volunteer somewhere.

and of course, who could forget this:

20. Tell your loved ones you love them.


i have every intention of spreading cheer and kindness throughout this month. i try to do that every month...but it is february - the month of cupid and eros and valentine's day! i put in links above to two of my recent acts of kindness... check back for more during the month.