Week 35..............oops!

I  am so behind in my blogging.  It has been 21 days since I have typed anything here.  How I have missed you Mrs Blog!.  There is so much to talk about, I hardly know where to start.

How about we start with my crafting.  You would think I would have lots of FO's to show to all of you.  Nope....................not even 1 FO.  What I do have is this:

Dying Of The Light. This now has over 500 stitches and no longer can it be spread out for you to see in all it's glory.  I am supposed to have it finished, blocked and photographed by the 3rd of March.  Not thinking that is going to happen.  This was part of the Year of the Shawl KAL on Knitterarium group on Ravelry.  I could give you about 4 reasons why it is not going to make the deadline, but, I won't.  Just let it be known.................my life has been a bit hectic lately and knitting/crocheting has had to take a back seat.

I did do a bit more on my Spring Tulips Socks:

I am still loving the pattern and working on them concurrently.  As soon as I am done with the shawl, these will be picked back up.

I did volunteer to do a test knit on a sock.  I am not able to show you any photos of the sock in progress.  However, I can show you the yarn it is being made out of.

It is call Jojoland yarn and is 100% superwash.  Imagine that..............I am knitting with 100% wool.  These socks, when completed will be going to a dear friend who also knits socks.  She will be the one person I know, who will appreciate the work that goes into them.  Plus...........she is the only one I know whose foot is small enough to wear the size I am making.  LOL

That is all for my crafting.  I have barely touched my prayer shawl so did not see a need to show any more photos of that.

On to personal life.  

While in New Orleans (NOLA), I tried my darnedest to teach my lefty grand to crochet.  She has the idea of the chain down pretty good, but turning the work to come back has her completely baffled.  She said she will consult You Tube and see if they explain it in a way that makes any more sense to her.  That did not hurt my feelings at all.  We all learn in different ways and she LOVES You Tube.  Hopefully she will do it too.

Also, while in NOLA, I was graced with a tornado warning.  I grew up in Kansas so tornadoes are not a novelty to me.  What is novel is:  the 2 states I have been in with tornadoes lately have no basements in their houses!  Texas..............no basements.  Louisiana...........no basements.  So I was holed up in a powder room with 2 very large dogs for about 45 minutes.

As you can see, these guys were not phased by the sirens or wind or anything that was going on around us.  Thankfully, we did not receive any damage from the storm.  I had managed to park in the garage and got all the lawn furniture in the house before we got hit. The worst part of the storm was about 20 miles away from us.

Speaking of NOLA........................I had a blast there.  As I told you before.......It was almost like going to a foreign country.  Things are so different there.  Very laid back.  You never have to worry about getting a speeding ticket as everyone drives about 5 mph slower than the posted limit.

There were two things that just grabbed my attention from the time I got there until I left.  First up:

Their cemeteries.  They are all above ground. Since NOLA is below sea level, digging down 12 feet for a grave would be an issue.  This was the cemetery behind the Church I attended while there.

The other thing I loved seeing:

This is a draw bridge...................fascinating

This is Pelican Bridge.....................I was able to travel over both of these bridges.  Living in Arizona..............bridges are really not needed.  We have 1 bridge in the area we live and it is nothing like these beauties.

Sorry about the poor quality of this photo.  It was taken through a car window as we were going over a bridge.  That body of water is the mighty muddy Mississippi river.

And this is what I saw every time I left and entered the Navy base.

A retired Blue Angel jet.  I don't how many of you have ever seen the Blue Angels in action, but they are so awesome.  Their precision is outstanding.

I returned home Valentines day.  It was a total of 3 weeks away from home.  And this is what was waiting for me as I walked into the house.

My hubby is so sweet.  He has never forgotten that yellow roses are my all time favorite flower.  I was so happy as these even had an aroma to them.

Since I have been home, I have been trying to catch up on so much stuff.  I was asked to teach left handed crochet to some of the students at our church's school.  I do that on Wednesdays.  I have 2 students....................one has it down pat..............the other......not so much.  Before I got there she watched right handed crocheters and instead of mimicking them she is trying to crochet backwards with her left hand.  It is a mess.  Hopefully I can get her turned around and soon.

My dogs had their teeth cleaned this past week and each of them lost a tooth or two.  This is one of the side effects of small dogginess.  LOL  I am faithful about getting their teeth cleaned every other year and they only eat dry dog food.  It is just part of their breeds issue.

Hubby and I had eye appointments since I have been home, I have had a Rheumatologist appointment also. Hubby has minor outpatient surgery tomorrow and then I hope we are done with the medical field for a while.

Yesterday, we had a retreat at our church.  We do 2 of these in a years time.  This is for the people who are planning on joining our church at Easter time.  They start classes in August and classes are completed in May even though they are "Catholic" on Easter, they still have classes after that to help them on their faith journey. I was blessed to have kitchen duty at this retreat.  Our normal kitchen folk are all laid up with back and neck issues.  I was also blessed to have fellow team members there to help me out when needed.  That was a good thing, as I messed up my knee while in NOLA and it is still hard for me to stand and walk on it for any length of time.

Ok, I think I have hit all the highlights or the past 3 weeks.  I am just glad to be home and be able to use a REAL computer to update my blog.  It's pretty nice to be back in my own bed too.  My male dog went into a pretty bad depression while I was gone.  He is all better now though.  I will say.........................if I leave a room.....he is right behind me making sure I am not packing a suitcase again.

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