In Which Connor Does Not Have Such A Hot Day, And I Meet The Bimbo of Thread

Connor didn't have such a hot day today, unfortunately.

After a relatively quiet week on the seizure front, he had five today-- two of them after I gave him Ativan, which is not particularly comforting.  I have absolutely no idea what brought them on; the only thing I can think of is that maybe he's getting sick.  No doubt I'll know for sure one way or the other tomorrow, depending on the kind of day he has. 

So that was not so wonderful.

The good news was that not a single one of them was the stop-breathing-and-look-really-dead kind.  They were all the I'm-obviously-in-distress-but-my-lungs-still-function-kind.  No oxygen and/or mouth-to-mouth was needed.  So that was a definite improvement in the state of matters.  If the kid's going to have five seizures in a day, I'd much rather them be of this variety.  But that doesn't make the whole five seizures thing less worrisome; it just keeps us out of the hospital. 

Oh well.

Since Connor spent about five hours napping today due to all of his shenanigans, I kept myself occupied by sewing.  Really what I should have been doing was cleaning the house-- especially since the entire contents of our luggage is still strewn around our kitchen and living room from when we got home six days ago-- but sewing keeps my mind occupied better because it's a challenge.  Also I could sit right next to the apnea monitor, which was a good thing because the kid had a seizure and the alarm didn't go off due to the whole still-breathing thing.  I recognized it because the pattern in the breathing changed, and if I'd been off in the bedroom putting away everything I wouldn't have recognized it.  That's my excuse, anyway.  Oh, and also I didn't feel like cleaning. 

So I worked on Ellen's stocking, which is coming along nicely-- or it was anyway until about halfway through the day, which is when I started work on the tail.  I've gotten to the part which involves metallic gold thread, and I have come to the conclusion that metallic gold thread was invented by someone who is secretly plotting to turn all needlepointers (is there a technical term for us?) into crazy anarchists hellbent on destruction.  Seriously this stuff makes you want to kill people and blow things up.  It is not fun, and I have only myself to blame.  The only excuse I can give is that prior to this point I was innocent in the ways of the gold thread and now that I've started using it it's too late to stop.  Well, I'll know better next time.

Metallic gold thread is the bleach blond bimbo of the sewing world.  It looks really pretty from a distance, but no one in their right minds actually wants to work with it personally. 

The thread I've picked out seems to be especially ornry.  First of all the label on the spool says "Sultry Silver Silk Metallic Thread."  This is very obviously not silver thread.  I believe the manufacturer/anarchist producer designed it this way so that when I run out I have no idea which color of thread to pick up (and yes, metallic gold thread comes in multiple shades) so I have to wander the aisle with my stocking, holding spools up to compare to the work I've already done and looking generally incompetent. 

Secondly, the shiny, fiddly bane of my existence is convinced that it needs to be curly thread, and it sprongs up into glorious tangled ringlets every time I stop pulling it taut.  I'm trying to work with three strands at a time, so you can imagine how wonderful this is.  Also it doesn't hold a knot worth a darn.  Seriously, they should put a warning label on this stuff.  It's not good for my blood pressure.

And of course the way I designed this thing, I'm using it on all of the tail feathers.  All of them.  I haven't counted how many that is because I don't want to know. 

The only good thing the metallic gold thread did today was it kept me from obsessing over how Connor was doing because I was so busy cursing at my sewing and pricking my fingers full of holes after that one recalcitrant strand insisted on wriggling its way off my needle yet again.  Also once I actually get it on the stocking it looks quite nice.

But I've learned my lesson.  The next project I do will not involve Sultry Silver or whatever color this is.  Even if it is really pretty.

~Jess