Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday also know as Holy Thursday in the Judeo Christian community.  It seems pretty strange not to be going to Mass tonight, or tomorrow night or this weekend for Easter.  Thank goodness, our Parish will be streaming the services on YouTube.  I feel for our Priest who will be conducting the services without anybody in the pews.  How strange that must be for him.

We were supposed to have rain yesterday.  I waited all day for said rain.  This is as close as we got.

It threatened but no rain. (sigh)  My joints said it was coming but then they lied too.

As you know, I have been making masks to wear when out in public. While in my craftroom,  I noticed something happening to my Thanksgiving Cactus.

It is blooming AGAIN!  This is the third time since Thanksgiving.  It sits in a west window in my craftroom.  I am quite pleased with how much this plant has grown in the past 2 years.  

I have more masks to make yet today.  My Daughter In Law, who works in a Doctor's office, text me today and asked if I could make her some masks too.  They can not even get masks for their office!  I told her I would be happy to make them.  She is going to drop off an old flannel shirt for me to use as a 'filter' for her masks.  I did not use anything in the ones for hubby and I.  I don't think I could handle the mask if it was any harder to breath in.

I did get to use one of my masks today.

Waiting in line at the drug store to pick up a prescription for the hubby.  I also had to go to the produce store and the Walmart Neighborhood Market.  Menus were made today for the next 10 days and I needed exactly 6 items!  Not too bad.  I was in and out of each store within 15 minutes.  

Hubby went to the Doctor this morning.  His lungs are clear and the Doctor just gave him an RX for an antibiotic.  Of course, hubby didn't ask him why.  (eye roll)  I didn't go, as I thought it would be better not to add more folks to their waiting room than was necessary.  But, the Dr did not think it was anything to worry about.

It is a gorgeous day outside today.  I am glad I got out in it for a little bit.  The rest of today will be finishing up some laundry, making masks, knitting on hubby's socks and making a nice dinner for us.  I will open the window in my craftroom while working on the masks.  I love getting fresh air into the house.

Anything new and fun happening with you today?

I will leave you with this:

Until nexgt time...........happy crafting & stay well!

Cheerup Buttercup

Happy Wednesday everyone.  I hope your having a great day.  We are still hunkered down here in Arizona.  Hubby is getting a cold (at least we hope it is a cold) so he is not happy about that.  I am keeping an eye on him to make sure it doesn't materialize into something worse.  I am thinking of calling the Dr anyway to see if they can work him in.  He in 'that' age bracket where I do not want to take any chances.

So, last night there were some interesting things going on in the sky.  We were able to see the International Space Station fly over us.

See that white dot?  That is it.  It was only in our vision for about 3 minutes.  

Last night was also the pink moon.

Naturally there were clouds.  If you remember, yesterday morning was a bright blue clear sky.  Then last night the clouds started rolling in.  It was still a pretty sight to see.

I worked on masks yesterday and got 3 more completed.

These are the 2 I have made for myself.  I will be making more either today or tomorrow.  They take about 30-45 minutes from cut out to finish.  There are 2 masks made for hubby too.  I have a bit of claustrophobia so wearing a mask is going to be a bit of a challenge for me.  It is still better than nothing.  I sent the photo on the right to my family with the caption "Just finished sewing my Easter outfit".  They loved it!

I stepped outside for a bit this morning.  

Sky looks pretty good to me.

These do not look like rain clouds to me.  How about you.  Our chances for rain have dropped from 50% to 20%.  This is why I never get too excited about our weather predictions.  I would love to see some rain come in.....wash all this nasty pollen out of the air.

Tonight I am going to go gourmet on y'all.  BLT's for dinner LOL.  It just sounded wonderful and we seem to have quite a bit of bacon in our freezer.  What's for dinner at your place?

Until next time..........................happy crafting & stay well!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Be honest, you have a song going through your head, right?  You have an image to go with it that looks like this?

Yup, this song will haunt you for the rest of the day now.  Sorry....................not sorry. LOL

I spent some time outside this morning on my front porch.  It is a gorgeous day here with the temp about 75 and a lovely little breeze.  

 Why not make good use of my time while outside.  Hubby's socks are not going to get completed by sitting in the house, buried in a project bag.  I had him try them on yesterday and they are not too tight, so now is the time to work on them and get them completed.

I sit in the shade while outside.  Otherwise, I would only be able to sit there for about 10 minutes before my skin would turn a reddish shade.  Our UV index is already pretty high.  I so wanted to just enjoy some outside time though.

Look at that crystal blue sky.  Not a cloud anywhere to be seen.  They are predicting rain starting sometime tomorrow with a big temperature drop.  I am not holding my breath.  If it does rain, that will take my outside time away.  

I think my neighbor needs to get his palm tree cleaned up.  Those dead fronds will be all over the street if we get a big wind.  They can really do some damage to tires too, if you run over them just right in the car or on a bike.

I did see other people out today.

I have no idea what my other neighbor was having done in her yard but they started early this morning and were just finishing up about noon.  This guy was one of her workers.

I sure wish there was someone sitting in the rocker next to me.  Hubby is not able to be outside much.  His allergies are so nasty right now, if you didn't know he had allergies, you might think he had the 'virus'.  (and he takes allergy injections!)  Nope, it would be so nice to have another knitter sitting there next to me, chatting away the morning.  Sharing the sunshine and lovely breeze.  

One thing I did see today but was not able to grab a photo of.....................our next door neighbors were out for a little stroll and I noticed the lady is pregnant!  I am so excited for them.  They have only been in the neighborhood for about a year.  This is the first home they have owned too.  They are a very lovely couple and I couldn't be happier to find out there will be children in the area again.  

I found a recipe today that really sparked my interest.  What do you think?

Doesn't it sound yummy?  It even sounds a little healthy.  Did you notice it uses milk?  This would help out the dairy farmers, right?

I did my part in helping dairy farmers today.  I make 4 days worth of overnight oats.  Those use milk and yogurt.  Doing my part to keep someone in business.

Time for lunch.  Today I will help the dairy farmers again my eating cottage cheese for lunch.

Until next time.............happy crafting & stay well!

Don' Tell Anyone

I did it.  After not going into public for 2 weeks, I left the safety of our home and went to Walmart.  And not just 1 Walmart but 2 Walmarts.  It was really strange too.  I have not been on the road since the Governor issued the stay at home order.  He has also slowly shut businesses down over the past week.  Traffic this morning was very strange.  I hit the freeway and had, maybe, 10 other cars on it with me.  On the city streets, there was hardly any traffic.  The parking lots at both stores were only 1/4 full.  While I was in the stores, no one was crowding anywhere.  I did self check out and had no issue getting a cash register.  It was surreal. (I kind of liked it though)

Now, to give you a chuckle, the reason I went shopping this morning was to find elastic for the face masks I am making to help us stay more protected when we go out of the house and into public.  (needless to say, I did not have a mask on today!) The 1/4 inch elastic is sold out everywhere.  Thank goodness, I have done more than one craft in my lifetime.  I went into the beading section of the second Walmart and found beading elastic.

This is the elastic cord I used to use when working with beads and making bracelets.  It is very strong and nice and small so it should not irritate our ears.  My thought is to double or triple it to give it a little more strength to hold the mask snug against our face.  Such pretty colors too.

Of course, while I was at the store I went ahead and picked up milk, cottage cheese and bananas.  That will keep us good for another week.  It also gives me time to make up some masks before we need to leave the house again.

When I got home, I decided to get the last dishcloth completed.  I am so tired of looking at them.  Actually, it is not that I am tired of dishcloths, it is that I am tired of WHITE dishcloths.  Give me some colors please!  

And there it is..................#12 off the needles and in the pile with the other 11 dishcloths.  

This afternoon, I will be cutting out material for face masks.  They do not take very long to make once they are cut.  Before I do anymore sewing, I need to work on my machine a bit.  The tension is off on it.  I have never touched the tension, so I do not know how that happened.  Hopefully I can find the book that goes with the machine so I can figure out which one to adjust.

Tonight, we will be having leftovers again.  Our Bible study class was moved to an online group last week.  Tonight is the last class and since it starts at 6, we need something quick and easy for dinner.  Hooray for leftovers.  

I 'spoke' with my Great Nephew's mom yesterday.  The baptism has been postponed until further notice.  They live in New York State, so I kind of figured the baby would be put on hold until this virus settles down over there.  They did get the blanket and love it so it will be used whenever he gets baptized.

Time to head to the craftroom and see what I can accomplish this afternoon.

Until next time.............happy crafting & stay well!

WEEK 41 OF YEAR 9

Hello again.  Palm Sunday has arrived, meaning, this coming week is Holy Week in my faith.  It seems quite odd not to be heading to church almost everyday this coming week. The thought of Easter Sunday being celebrated behind closed doors has not quite sunk in yet.  All church services are being televised, which is nice, but not quite the same.  It seems strange to be "attending" Mass in my pajamas with a dog by my side and knitting in my lap. Praying that the world will right itself soon.

With all this extended time at home, a person would think quite a bit of crafting, decluttering, cleaning would be accomplished.   Some of that did happen this week.  Take a look.

Still going strong on the High Effects Feather and Fan shawl.  The blue dot is where I was last Sunday.  This held my attention for 3 days and then I was tired of looking at it.  Even though it is a nice easy knit, I wanted to do something else.

Thursday is supposed to be my Prayer Shawl day.  I miss going to the meetings and seeing the ladies.  My plan has been to work on a prayer shawl each Thursday, anyway, to kind of keep track of the days of the week.  This week I decided to start a new prayer shawl.  The Cabled Rosary Prayer Shawl is still in the works but, takes so much time to even do one pattern round.  I was getting discouraged.  Right now is not the time to be discouraged.  Here is what I did.

Another 'To The Point Shawl'.  As most of you know, this is my 'go to' shawl pattern when I want to accomplish something in a short amount of time.  This shawl only takes a day to make.  Watching TV while crocheting it is not an issue either.  Of course that could be because I have made so many of them.  It is also a great way for me to use up my worsted weight yarn that is hanging around my house.

After the shawl was completed, I was still looking for quick satisfying projects.  

Yup, dishcloths.  I decided to work on Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth pattern for a change of pace.  Golly gee!  I forgot how quickly these work up.  I can do 2 a day compared to the others that take me at least one day to do one.  So far have completed 3 1/2 of them.  Only 1 1/2 more to go and I will have 12 cloths made and can get them to my daughter for the wedding present she wants to give.  (Providing there is still going to be a wedding. Things are a bit different right now)  The other plus side to this pattern, since it is done in garter stitch, I knit it Portuguese style and purl each row.  If you have never done Portuguese knitting, let me tell you purling that way is so fast and easy on the hands and wrists.  If I was smart, I would knit my socks inside out and just purl them all the time.  Bet the would get done quicker.

Today I will be focusing my attention on this:

A large pile of fabric.  All quilters cotton that has been washed in hot water, dried in a hot dryer and ironed.  These squares are destined to become civilian face masks.  My niece's mom is a nurse and she started making them for her family and sent me the pattern she is using.  The only change I will be making is; I will not be using elastic to go around the ears but rather strings of some sort to tie around the back of the head.  Here is the link for the pattern.  "Face Masks"  The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) just said they thought it might be a good idea if we all started wearing masks while in public.  There are some tricks though about wearing said masks.

1.  wash your hands before applying the mask

2.  do not touch the mask or your face while wearing it.

3. wash your hands before removing the mask

4. place the mask in hot soapy water as soon as it is removed

5.  wash your hands right after placing the mask in hot soapy water.

6.  if mask becomes wet while wearing it, remove and replace with dry mask (don't forget to sanitize hands when doing this.  Guess you should carry a Ziploc bag and hand sanitizer with you too)

The masks are more of a protection from you spreading the virus than from you catching the virus.  Since you can have the virus without any symptoms, they are hoping this will flatten the curve.

The one item that I thought interesting, the health care people I talked to said wearing the mask for more than 2 hours is not recommended.  So, if you think putting a mask on is a ticket for a shopping spree at the mall, think again LOL.  Since my hubby is the one still running errands for us, I will be making the first few for him.  After that, I will make some for myself and also for friends who do not sew.  I have plenty of material for this, so no need to got out to buy more.

Cooking at home has been good so far.  I am trying different recipes at least 4 times a week.  So far, there has only been one we have not been fond of.  Abut the only items we need to purchase each week are fresh fruits and veggies.  Lucky for us, we have produce market 1/2 mile from our home.  Saves us from having to go to the BIG grocery store.

I pray you all are staying safe and in good health.  Please stay at home if at all possible.  Let's flatten the curve and save lives.

Until Next Time.....................Happy Crafting!!!!!!

PS:  This is day 13 of me staying out of public.  No cabin fever!  All is good here.

End of day 9

Day 9 is how long it has been since I have gone out into a public place.  The only place I have been is to my son's house to drop off banana bread on Monday.  Hubby has been the one leaving the house to go to the grocery store and run any other errands we need done.  Since I have RA, I am considered to have an autoimmune disease and more susceptible to the virus. 

It seems, every other day is a productive day for me.  That might be because I am not longer a spring chicken.

No longer does it bother me when some things on my list do not get completed.  I just transfer them over to the next day's list.  Today I had 10 items on my list and I have completed 8 of them.  The only things not completed................bathing the 2 dogs and washing their blankets that lay on our furniture.  Those items will get transferred to tomorrow's list.

Hubby let me sleep in today.  That means I got a bit of a late start to my day.  I still managed to do 4 loads of laundry, empty the dishwasher and refill it, water all the indoor plants, wind my antique mantle clock, clean veggies for lunches and declutter some books.  All before lunch time!

These are the books I have pulled to give away, so far.  There are quite a few more but, they  need hubby's input to decide if we can kiss them good-bye.  

After lunch seemed the perfect time to start another dishcloth for the upcoming wedding in May.  This time I am doing the "Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth".

I had forgotten how quick this one knits up.  Actually, I am purling the entire cloth, as I can go much quicker with my Portuguese knitting when I purl.  I have 10 more rows before I start the decreases.  It will be completed before dinner and then I will start another one.  

I have been checking in with family and friends every few days to make sure they are all healthy.  My son in Texas will be out of quarantine tomorrow but still has some minor symptoms.  He is not allowed back to work until he is symptom free for 72 hours.   Otherwise, everyone else on my list is feeling fine.

Tonight is our meatless meal night for Lent.  I have decided to make burritos with eggs, potatoes O'Brien, cheese and salsa.  There will be refried beans on the side.  It will use up the rest of the potatoes in my freezer finally.  I dislike having small amounts of foods sitting around.  They usually get forgotten about and by the time I remember them, they are freezer burnt.  We are trying to be more conscientious about that.  It almost feels like what happened during the depression.  You do not waste food!  It is amazing how this stay at home pandemic has changed the way we look at things.

So, this happened today:

I sent this article to my local son as this is his wife's beer.  It is about the only one she can drink that does not give her a headache or make her sick.  There is one other she can tolerate so guess she will be switching brands.  This company makes Corona, Modelo, and Pacifico.  So if you enjoy any of those brands, you may want to go and stock up.  Me?......I am a Michelob Ultra gal.  

My dryer is telling me my towels are done.  

Until next time (Sunday)...........................happy crafting and stay well!