A little of this...a little of that...

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last posted.  Time is passing way too fast and I just can't keep up with things.  So what have I been up to you ask?  Hm...well...where do I start?

On the stitching front I was able to finish up the next portion of Sweet Flowers.  I will be able to get the last portion of the pattern, and for that I'm eternally grateful I was able to finish.  You see, I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and so my stitching has slowed down considerably.  Many of you know that I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer on April Fool's day of 2010.  Once chemotherapy was finished I was prescribed Tamoxifen.  I've been taking that for more than 18 months, and it has begun to cause problems.  One of which is a rapidly progressing case of carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand.  It has begun to affect my liver, muscle tone all over my body, my eyesight and a few other things.  It has been a very discouraging time for me, because I've had to give up so many of the things I love to do, or still do them but with considerable pain.  I have since stopped taking the Tamoxifen and will try to use diet and exercise as a way of preventing the disease from reoccurring.  Again, it has been an uphill battle since it is never easy to develop new habits when you are (as my husband tells me) more than a half century on this planet.  LOL  Here is my attempt at the next portion of Sweet Flowers.

It hasn't stopped me from doing other things though!  My dear husband reads the Washington Post religiously every morning and discovered the week before the exhibit was about to close that there was a mini golf exhibit at the National  Building Museum in Washington DC.  We decided to go the day before Labor Day, and waited in a line for 3 hours before we finally got in to play.  There were only 12 holes, but each was different, challenging, and designed by a different architectural firm.  I actually  had TWO holes in one, I'll let you know which holes as we come to them, but when the dust had settled, I WON...yes I beat out the guys...yippee!!  LOL

The National Building Museum is a pretty cool place.  It is an enormous building...

with a lovely large room as you first walk in that has been used since the 1800's to hold inaugural balls.  It's hard to show in a picture how immense the room is, and that the ceiling is 4 stories high.  Very impressive!

While we were waiting in line we discovered there were other exhibits being displayed at the same time, one was a lego exhibit with some lovely pieces on display.  This tower was twice the height of my 6 foot tall guys!

They had also done a food drive for area food banks but had used their donated items to create some artwork that was on display.  This one I thought was pretty neat.  The front was of first moon walk, and the back was the view of the earth from the moon.  Pretty interesting!

Now...on to the golf holes...

Hole  number one...

Hole number two...

Hole number three...this one was kind of interesting as it was actually a 3D model of the streets of Washington.

Hole number four...this one is hard to see, but it is all uphill, and you had to shoot to the left and let it fall through all the gates so it would finally end up in the hole.  It was a tough one!

Hole number five...

Hole number six...This was my first hole in one on the course.  It's hard to see but it does go uphill all the way!  Watching the other players before us, you had to shoot to the side and hope that it would fall straight down into the hole....it was a tough one!!

Hole number seven...It's hard to see but you had to shoot through the bus and hit the car at the other end at just the right angle...I had two shots on this one.

Hole number eight...

Hole number nine...this hole had me going in circles!!

Hole number ten...

Hole number eleven...this was my second hole in one!!  I loved the little miniature furniture on this hole.  I felt like Alice in Wonderland!  LOL

Hole number twelve...

And there you have it!  It was a long day (especially since we waited in a line for three hours and then took an hour to play there were so many other "golfers" on the course), but I love spending time with my guys!  

A few days later we went to see the Orioles play their first game in a series against the Yankees.  They won, AND it was the day they unveiled the statue of Cal Ripken so we were able to get a mini statue too!  It was the most exciting gave I've been to in ages...AND the Orioles are in first place right now (though the Yankees play tonight so their status may be short lived.  This is the first time the Orioles have been this close to making it to the play offs, what an exciting season for the Orioles!!

As I mentioned, my carpal tunnel has reached the stage where it is effecting my life so....they have decided that surgery is necessary.  I will have surgery tomorrow morning so if you don't hear from me for a while, don't worry, I'll be back.  You can't keep an addicted stitcher/blogger down...so watch this space!  *Hugs*