A Normal Day

I just know you all are wondering what a normal day in my life is like.  I keep a bullet journal next to my seat in the familyroom and decided to look over the past 6 months to see what I do.  Surprise!!!!!! There is no such thing as a normal day in my life.  Everyday brings something new in my day.  Not that I mind.  Having a "normal" day would be so boring.

Let's look at today.........

Got up at my normal 7am and headed into the kitchen to make some coffee, only to find, hubby had made mine for me.  Totally unexpected. Next I downloaded the 21 photos we taken when the family was together for Christmas.  They were taken at JCPenneys and are excellent

Case in point.......one of the photos of hubby and I.  I actually might look into getting photos done each year now for gifts.  Groupon always has super deals around Christmas time.

After down loading the photos, I played with the color, warmth, brightness and cropping until I was satisfied with the photos I wanted to print for my mom's collage photo frame.

Boom!!!!!! It is now 11:30 and time for lunch, then a shower, and need to start on my travels for the day.

First stop.........dropping off my "old" stand mixer at my BFFs house for her daughter.  I got my new Kitchen aid and no longer needed the small Sunbeam.  I stayed and visited for a while.  My BFF just got home from the hospital yesterday after undergoing cervical spine fusion.  She is doing pretty good for not being able to turn her head.

Then I am off to my son's house to feed the kitties and fish.  I was graced with the presence of BOTH cats today.  They even let me pet them for a few minutes. 

Back in the car and off to visit my mom.  We finished a puzzle and got another one out and pieces sorted.  It is now 4:30 and time to go back home.

Back home and now realize We did not plan anything for dinner.  Off to Sprouts (a local fresh food store) and we picked up a bowl of soup and a salad.  Finished dinner and it is now 8pm and in1 hour we will be heading to Church for an hour of adoration.

My brother in law has made it to town, yet, has not gotten to our house as of this writing.  He is an hour away from us watching a hockey game.  He will call when he is close to our house.  It will be a late night.

Tomorrow, I will be going to the grocery store to pickup food for our New Years Day party.   I have picked out a recipe and just need a few ingredients.  It is a crockpot dish that I have made several times for hubby and I.   It is warm and filling and even healthy.  I am trying to get back into my weight watchers routine, so making sure I have good meals and snacks available during parties.

So, now, you have had a glimpse into a day of a retired person.  I still have laundry to do, floors to vacuum and a dishwasher to empty. I haven't even picked up a knitting needle today!  Oh,that is not good.  I did download 10 books to my Kindle yesterday, so I will have some reading material for a month or so.

Oh well...........thanks for stopping by........happy crafting!

Winding Down

Now that the company is gone, laundry is pretty well caught up and I have managed to get more than 4 hours of sleep per night, I feel like my live is as back to normal as it is going to get for a while.

My brother in law is coming to town tomorrow and will be staying with us until Sunday. Granted, we won't see much of him as he has tickets for lots of sporting events over those 4 days. On the day he leaves, we will have a small group of great friends from Las Vegas come to our house for an afternoon/evening of food and fun.  I love this group of friends because the lone female in the group is also a knitter and we just sit and knit and chat the day away.  What a joy for both of us to have that in common.

I am still taking care of my son's cats and fish and will be until the 5th of January.  It isn't much work as the cats really do not want to be social often.  I can sit in their house for over an hour and they won't grace me with their presence.  Silly beasts!

As for crafting...........................remember this?

I was cleaning out my knitting basket, on Monday, and found this stuck in a bag in the bottom of the basket.  I picked it back up and have worked on it for the past 2 days.  I decided to make it larger than the pattern called for.  I have pretty broad shoulders and wanted this to be able to reach the end of them.  The increases were completed last night and I will start on decreasing today. 

I really have enjoyed working with beads and the designer writes and charts so even the least experienced knitter can understand what she means.  She is holding KAL's this year and I plan on joining her for them.  The first one starts in January and goes until the end of February.  She gives you a choice of patterns to use and you can decide on what fiber to use for your pattern.  We basically will have an open discussion on our patterns and how things are going.  I have a few of her patterns in my library but am waiting for her newest test knit to be published so I can do that one for the first KAL.

This week I decluttered my kitchen and even cleaned my fridge!  I got rid of everything I had not used since the remodel of the kitchen.  It has been over a year now and if I have not used it by now.................it isn't going to be used.  What a wonderful feeling to get rid of 'stuff'.  That's what brought me to cleaning out my knitting basket.  There was some of the strangest things in there.  I found paperwork for my mom's wheelchair and hospital bed along with Christmas cards from this year.  There were also several magazines that I was holding onto to get recipes and articles for organization out of them.  Those pages have been ripped out now and are waiting to be scanned into a special file on my computer.

There is so much I really want to do in the next few weeks, but alas.....................it will need to wait until the middle of February.  I leave for Las Vegas on the 8th and return on the 12th then turn around on the 25th and head to New Orleans and return on February 14th.  Good thing I have lots of knitting projects that will keep me busy while I am on the move.  I am hoping to have the shawl done for the Vegas trip.  It will be perfect to keep my neck and shoulders warm while under those lovely A/C vents that seem to pump out cool air year round.  I will probably be traveling with my KAL and some socks.  Socks travel so well.  I might even take along my cotton yarn to make some much needed dishcloths for my Mother in Law.  Who know.  I just know the beaded project is NOT a traveling item.  Those little beads would be EVERYWHERE!

I need to sit down and make out some menus too.  I would like to have some decent meals before I leave and maybe even make enough to freeze some for while Hubby is home alone.  That saves him some time trying to make food for one and it gives him a wholesome meal.

I just got home from the Veterinarians office.  The puppies needed a mani/pedi.  It is so nice not to hear the click, click, click of little toe nails on my floors.  The best part............the Vet is only 1/4 mile from my house.  If I had known how nice it was outside today, I would have taken them for a walk to the office.  Guess I should stick my head out the door once in a while, huh.

That is about all for me today.  Time to go and knit a bit before my Weight Watchers meeting.  Until next time.......................................Happy Crafting.

Week 26 and Christmas

Hello and Merry Christmas to you all.  If you do not celebrate Christmas, then Happy Holidays to you.  I am writing this on Saturday afternoon as this is the night hubby and I will celebrate Christmas by going to Mass and then on to a couple of open house socials.  That way, all I need to do is post on Sunday morning when I get up.  Christmas day is also my mom's birthday and she is turning 89 this year.  I made 2 angel food cakes to take to her group home, to share with the other 19 residents out there.  There will be berry pie filling put on top of each piece to add a bit of pizzazz to it.  This is per her request.  Each year we let her choose her cake flavor and make it happen for her.  

Anyway.......................let's get started!

It has been a whirlwind of a week.  I posted on Wednesday hoping to make this post a bit smaller than.  Nope..............Too much going on to not try and fit a lot of it in on this post. Since the majority of you are here to read about my handy work, I will post about that first.

The only thing I have to show is this:

My Hermione Socks are coming along nicely.  I was surprised how much knitting I was able to do this week.  I managed to get both heels done using the Fish Lips Kiss heel and have knitted several rows of the foot.  These are such a great knit and such an easy pattern to remember.  

I still have not taken a photo of my stash enhancement from almost a month ago.  I know....I am a bad bad bad knitter.  LOL  Actually, I was going to take a photo of them this week but there were 2 teen age boys sleeping in that room and their blow up bed took up the entire floor space in there.  Kind of hard to get to my stash with a bed in the way.

Speaking of which..............I do have some photos from the past week.

We went out to where my mom lives and the kids were thrilled that there was a puzzle to be worked.  My mom had no idea the Great Grands were coming into town and she was beyond happy.

Here are 4 of her Great Grands.  These were the only ones that came.  There are 3 more but they are all grown up and have jobs and were not able to make it down.

These two beautiful ladies are the newest members of my family.  This is my Daughter in Law and my newest Grand Daughter.  Love them to pieces.  In fact, I will be going down to where my DIL is stationed in January to stay with the Grand while she goes TDY for 2 weeks.  The Grand has asked me to bring a crochet hook and yarn and teach her how to crochet.  She is a lefty like me, so this will be the first time I have taught some one left handed.  WOOHOO

While the family was here we went and had family photos taken.  ALL OF US!!!!  That is 12 people.  The lady was so great with us and let us have whatever sittings we asked for.  I can hardly wait to get the CD back so I can upload them to my computer and give you a view of 90% of my family.

After photos, we went to eat at a nice Italian restaurant.  Bucca di Peppo!!!!  YUMMY!

Here are a few photos from that adventure:

The son who just had surgery and his lovely bride

My daughter and her husband.  They just celebrated 1 year of marriage.

My local Daughter in Law (Josie's mom)

And her husband (my son).  (That's me next to him)

Some yummy food

Even more yummy food

My 16 year old grandson is the one taking 99% of the photos I am sharing with you.

He even took a selfie with my new camera.  He is amazing.

The one thing I have to cherish for the rest of my life are these:

I gave each of the 4 grands a Christmas ornament to decorate for me to hang on my tree.

It kept them busy for about 30 minutes is all.  I am in love with them and each child signed their name on the back of their creation.

Busy little beavers working on the ornaments.

Nothing like getting your picture taken when you have a mouth full of food.  This is the youngest grandson.  

We had Christmas on Friday with the entire family, at my house.  I was so filled with love and warmth, I did not take any photos of that time.  But the memories of the evening will be in my heart forever.

I don't know if I showed this to you guys or not.  This was my luggage when I came home from Texas a couple weeks ago.

I still had 4.5 pounds before going over limit though.  I don't have any idea why it was so much heavier then when I came.  I did all the laundry, so there wasn't any extra dirt in it. LOL  It might have been from all the Christmas gifts I purchased while in Texas.

So that is all from me this week.  Have a great week and..............Happy Crafting!!!!

Family life

It has been a whirlwind of activity since early Monday morning. The Texas family arrived around 2am tired and road weary. Yet, seems our internal clocks still worked for us, as we were up around 7:30 anyway and ready to start the day.

Hubby and I took the grands shopping for presents for their parents.  I was so impressed with them.  They made very wise choices and consulted with each other to see if the gift was acceptable.  We completed our shopping trip in an hour!

Lunch was consumed on the home front and then we took off to visit my mother.  She had no idea her Texas Great Grandchildren were coming to town.  She said it was the best Christmas present ever.  It had been 8 years since she had seen them and it was the first time to meet her newest great grand daughter.

After all the hugs and kisses were given out, we came back home, had a light dinner and were once again off.  This time we went to watch the Arizona grand in her Advent program at her school/church.  She played her flute in the orchestra and also sang with her class.  After wards, everyone came to our house for snacks and libations.   We finally crawled into bed close to midnight.

Tuesday morning came with lots of sunshine and warmth.  We pretty much lazed around in the morning.  We picked up Arizona grand at noon from school.  After all the grands played and talked for a while, I gathered them all up and took them to get hair cuts. The boys needed it desperately and we just had the TX grand daughters hair shaped up a bit.  We came back home and had a wonder taco Tuesday dinner.  Our two sons and their wives went out on the town for the evening and we got the joy of having all the grands with us.

There were dart tournaments, decoration of ornaments, card games, board games and lots of pool games played during the evening.  The girls ended up watching a movie with us old folks and we finally got everyone to bed just before midnight.

I am sitting here in quiet.  The Texas Grand daughter is awake but laying quietly in her room waiting for the rest of the house to awaken.  There is a light rain falling outside.  My dogs are curled up next to me and I am happier than I have been in a long time. Family is everything to us.  This Friday will be completeness for me.  I will have 90% of my family under one roof.  We will be celebrating Christmas together.  I am sure there will be lots of laughter but most importantly, lots of love.

Come back on Sunday, as I will be posting photos of the week.  My oldest Grand son is dynamite with the camera and has been having a blast using my new one.

Until next time..........Happy crafting

WEEK 25

Hello and welcome back.  I returned home on Tuesday this past week and it has been a crazy time every since my feet hit terra firma.  I am trying to get everything completed and done and baked and wrapped and decorated before my Texas family arrives.

Guess what.....................It ain't happening.  The wrapping is done, the beds are made, baking will be on going while they are here and I decided that what is decorated is all we are going to do.  There are only so many hours in a day and mine are maxed out.

Tonight, I am going to be going grocery shopping around 7 or 8pm.  Good thing WalMart is opened 24 hours a day.  Hopefully, it will not be as busy then and I will be able to get my groceries and get home and put them away with time to spare before the family arrives.

But..............that is not why you all are here.  You are wondering what I accomplished in the past 2 weeks.

How about this:

 The stockinette hug shawl was completed about 6 hours before I left for Texas.  I blocked it when I got home.  It is now dry and wrapped and waiting to be given to it's special person.

While I was gone, I worked only on my Hermione socks:

This one only has 8 more rows to do before I start the heel.  The other one has 12 more rows and then the heel.  I really like doing both of them at the same time on DPNs.  It is so much easier on my hands than working with the cords of the magic loop and pulling the socks around all the time.

I forgot to take photos again of my stash enhancement that happened just before I left for Texas too.  Hopefully, by next Sunday, things will have settled down a bit and I will be able to better update everything.  Our family leaves on the 24th and also our family that lives here leaves the same day to go and spend Christmas and New Years with her parents for a change.  It will be quiet around here, but that is ok.  I am sure we will find plenty of things to keep us busy.  There will be lots of laundry to do with the bedding and towels to be washed.

Tomorrow, our local grand daughter has her Advent program at her school.  We will be there for that.  Tuesday, hubby and I will be taking the Texas grands to go Christmas shopping for their parents.  Wednesday is a quiet day for us.  I am sure something will come up for us to do.  Thursday we are getting family photos done of all the local family and the Texas clan. It has been 11 years since we have had an updated photo.  Friday, we will be doing our family Christmas at our house.  There will be lots of food, love and fun that evening.  So, there you have our week in a nutshell.  I am really looking forward to the next 5 days.  It will be whirlwind, but that is fine with me.  I just want to soak up the love and family warmth.

Oh........As for the surgery................everything went just fine.  I posted about it here.

OK, I need to get off of here and double check my shopping list to make sure I have everything listed I need to get for the next few days.  (yes, I am soooo excited)

I would like to wish a Happy Chanukah to all my Jewish friends and a Merry Christmas to all my friends that celebrate that with me.  Also a Happy Kwanzaa to those that celebrate that tradition also.

Saturday Morning

The house is fairly quiet.  All the grands are gone until tomorrow night.   My son and I are having a lazy morning.  He is drinking his coffee and I just finished my second cup of tea.  Trying to decide if i really want to shower and get ready for the day.  This blog is a great distraction and helps me delay on decision making.

I did not go to the Doctor with my son this week.  He requested to go alone and therefore I had the opportunity to go to church, earlier in the day.   He was given permission to pickup items that weight 1 pound or less.  The dressing remains on until the 16th and the sling until the end of the year.  The Doctor did tell him, the usage of the arm should be 100% after all the healing happens.  Healing takes up to 4 months to complete.  Lots of positive news there.

I have not been working on my knitting lately.  Seems like everytime I pick it up it needs to be out back down.  So it sits in my night stand staring at me, waiting for some love to be shown to it.  (Sigh)  Unfortunately, reading on my tablet is much easier for me to do with interruptions.  I just finish my second book and am on a third one.  Nothing to spectacular as far as literary material goes.  Not even worth mentioning the titles.  These books are basically mindless drivel.

We have company coming over this evening for dinner.  There will be a little 2 month old baby coming and I am so excited to hold a little one again.  Needless to say,  the 3 BIG dogs will be crated during the visit.  They are too excitable and would want to love the baby toooooooo much.  We are smoking a pork loin for dinner tonight and having loaded mashed potatoes and green beans on the side.  Tomorrow we are smoking whole chickens and also macaroni and cheese.  Smoked mac and cheese sounds so yummy, can't wait to try it.

With all this going on, my YOP post may not show up until Monday.   That way I can let you know how yummy all the foods were.

I still can't believe how quickly my time here has gone.  I fly back home on Tuesday evening.  I miss my all my AZ family and friends but.............I will miss my TX family when I leave.  It's so hard living 14 hours drive time, away from each other.

Ok, I have rambled long enough.  Time to go get cleaned up and then clean up the house a bit.  Mostly, vacuum up dog hair and mop up muddy paw prints.

Until next ti

Wednesday

It seems like I just arrived at my son's house and now I only have 6 more days before I fly home.  I am loving being with the grands.  They have been soooooo good with all the turmoil going on with their dad's surgery.

As I look at my bullet journal, I am amazed at all the things we have done each day.  We have not stayed home one whole day yet.  Even so, I have managed to cook meals each night, clean at least one room each day and do laundry.  There has even been knitting time.  This is how I functioned when I worked full time.

One thing I did do was read a book!  It was a book I picked up at my grand daughter's book fair on Saturday.  The title is "The Junction of Sunshine and Luck" by Holly Schindler.  I really enjoyed it, even if it is geared towards 5th to 6th graders.

Tomorrow we go to the surgeon's office as we had to have the dressing removed because of moisture. It was supposed to stay on for 10 days. Lucky for us there is a nurse and paramedic across the street who were kind enough to come over and redress the incision area.  I looked at the incision and it looks very good.  There is some bruising, of course, but overall............nicely done.

Hopefully, after the Dr's appointment tomorrow, I will have some extra time to bake up some banana bread with our over rippened bananas.  I also want to do some laundry of towels and clean up the laundry room.  I have church tomorrow night, so will probably do a crockpot dinner of pork chops, rice and brussel sprouts.  Want something that the family can eat if they get hungry.

My son has invited friends over for dinner on Saturday and his in laws over for dinner on Sunday.  We have no idea what we will be serving yet.  We have a few days to decide though.  Maybe ribs one of the nights.  I do them in the crockpot and they fall off the bone.  Found the recipe on Pinterest and have made it several times.  Will run that by my son, he might have other ideas though.

It's 8:30pm, got youngest grand in the shower, oldest grand in his room doing homework, son is watching Chip and Joanna Gaines' show and I am enjoying a cuppa and my knitting.  Think i will have one more cuppa and read for a bit and then get some shut eye.  Early day tomorrow here.  Want to be well rested to listen to the Doctor and I have a couple of questions for him too.

Until next time...........happy crafting!

YOP uodate

Good morning everyone.  I found a few quiet moments  early today to update my  blog.

First up,

Hermione Everyday sock.  I am working both socks on DPNs.  Both of them are in the exact same spot.  I am enjoying doing them this way.  I like this pattern also, as it does not hide the patterning of the yarn.  It does add some texture though which I love.  This will be another pattern I will use more than once . 

I finished the Stockinette Hug Shawl before I left home .   It still needs a soak and blocking so will do that when I get back home.

I arrived at my son's home on Thursday morning and it has been non stop since.  He had bicep surgery Friday morning.  It was out patient, which was nice.  His surgeon was excellent.  He really took the time to inform me of everything I would need to know to help my son during recovery.

The Grands are being wonderful with helping out where needed.  Not one complaint from any of them when I ask them to pitch in.  I am blessed for sure.  There has been lots of laundry being done along with cooking, cleaning, children activities, grocery shopping and other duties as assigned.  I am sleeping very well at night. lol  Last night I had a bed guest:

This is Chief.  He is Shephard/shar pei mix and a big baby and goof ball.  There are 3 dogs here and they rotate where they sleep.  I volunteered for this guy.  He is so good and slept the  whole night at the foot of the bed and never once disturbed me.  He will be invited back to my room anytime.

The weather here is much colder than at home and it rained  all day yesterday.  I love the rain, so that was a bonus for me.  The male grands love the rain too, so we were all happy campers yesterday.  We will be dropping down below freezing later this week.  Good thing I brought lots of sweaters and flannel shirts.  This desert rat is not used to these temperatures anymore.  

I am off to church and then home  to decide what to make for dinner. Will have kids do their laundry today so we can get that room cleaned up.  

Until next time...........Happy Crafting