Week 27 of Year 7

Another week has flown by.  Today will end the year 2017 for us.  Good Bye 2017, not my favorite year, to say the least.  Loosing my mom this past Tuesday was the final straw.  I am looking forward to 2018.  May it bring all of you happiness, health and lots of crafty goodness.

Since this past week was pretty emotional for me, I only worked on my sock.  It is slow going and I am no even finished with the leg yet.

Cruddy picture, but then, not much natural light at 4 in the morning.  I asked last week if any of you recognized the pattern I choose to remake.  Not one of you even tried to guess.  This is the Hermione Sock.  This is such an easy pattern to memorize and works so well with all kinds of yarn from solid to super patterned or striped.  I am not working the socks concurrently this time.  I didn't take the time to wind the yarn into 2 cakes.  I got lazy.  Hopefully I don't fall prey to second sock syndrome.  

My daughter in law's mom brought over 2 large bags of yarn, yesterday.  I went through them last night and scored about 10 skeins of super soft yarn that I will be making into either shawls or lapghans for our prayer shawl ministry.  I was so excited to go through all that fiber goodness.  (no photos yet)

Today we are having a get together with our dear friends from Las Vegas.  We are doing very simple food this year.  I have not been in the mood to do mega cooking, so my phone did it for me.  We ordered fruit trays and a 4 foot sub sandwich.  We will be making a meat and cheese tray as well as a veggie tray.  There will also be chips and dip and hubby's homemade salsa.  

While the guys watch loads of football, us ladies will be knitting away and laughing.  I will have my friend go through the bags of yarn to see if she lusts  wants any of it too.  There is quite a bit of chunky yarn and she does quite a bit with that.  There is also a lot of Vanna's yarn, which will be perfect for her toy making she loves to do.

Hubby's mom came down with his brother on Friday for a short visit.  They are leaving on New Year's Day to go home.  My Brother left yesterday morning to go home.  So I had a full house for 1 night.  I am ready for everyone to leave so I can have some down time and be allowed to grieve in private.  I am not good at crying in front of others, so I have bottled up my emotions for the past 5 days.  I can feel them coming to the surface and trying to leak out of my eyes.  I need time.......I need quiet......I need to grieve......I need to find my new normal.

For 2018, I have made my own bullet journal.  Last year I bought a ready made one and so enjoyed using it.  This time, I knew what I wanted as far as journaling.  I figured with a lovely blank journal book, a ruler, stickers, washi tape and some writing instruments, I could design, my own the way I wanted it.  I will be doing daily 'to do' lists and making notes on feelings or ideas for the day.  I am keeping it simple for the first couple of weeks to see how it goes.  I can always change up the way I design it.  This will be fun as well as new territory for me.  My drawing skills are lacking, so there will not be art work like many of my blogging buddies do.  

I still use my; craft, recipe, prayer and reading journals.  I find having separate journals for specific areas of my life works much better for me.  They are all in a lovely basket by my knitting space.  

This year is, once again, going to see me decluttering/organizing my home.  We are planning on finishing up the remodel this year so..................it is the perfect time to get rid of 'stuff' that is clogging up my life.  My home is not messy.......don't think that.  But I have a lot of 'stuff' that is unnecessary in every room of my house.  It is time to part ways with it and be happy with having the necessities of life at the ready.  Hubby gets a little twitchy when I head to the book cases......It's kind of funny to watch.  Yet, I have 5 bookcases full of books and there is NO need for that.  I am not talking about children bookcases.  I am talking about 6 feet tall by 4 feet wide cases.  And NO................I do not have a 'library room' in my house.  My journal will come in quite handy for this!

That wraps up my blogging for 2017.  A big hug to all my readers.  You make it all worth while to put my thoughts and feelings on here.

Until next time/year.........................Happy Crafting!

Tough One

It is just around 3:30 in the morning here.  I can not sleep.  Sleep has been escaping me for the past couple of days.  Maybe I should rephrase that................I was sleeping but woke up around 3 with tears streaming down my face.  They won't stop.  My heart is hurting too.  The past 2 days have been surreal to me.

Most of my family left yesterday.  My brother has stayed with me for a few more days to help me get through some very tough decisions.  We both are grieving for this lady:

This is our mom.  Our rock, or matriarch, our champion in everything.  She left us Tuesday afternoon to be with her Lord.  Words can not express the empty hole I have in my heart at the moment.  It doesn't seem possible that I will no longer be going to see her twice a week or that I will be calling her to ask her about a knitting problem or a cooking issue.  In the past few years, we had become extremely close.  We formed a bond that I never thought would happen.  We became friends..............best friends.  And while, she could irritate the stuffing out of me, I know I could do the same to her.

We were so fortunate to have been able to celebrate her 90th birthday with her on Monday.  She was surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great grand children.  She was in great spirits and enjoyed all the attention she got and the gifts that she received.  It was such a lovely time with her.  She even blew out her candles on her cake.

When I got a call on Tuesday that she was being sent to the hospital because of breathing issues and extreme pain, I was stunned.  She had been fine the day before other than the pain where her fractures were.  I was even more shocked when I received a call 90 minutes later to let me know she had passed away.  I had been told by her Doctor NOT to go to the ER with her because of all the cases of the flu here.  (I have a compromised immune system)  I am so glad all of her great grand children got to see her one more time on Monday.  I am so thankful my brother has stayed behind to help hubby and myself with cleaning out her things and helping with her arrangements.

It will be a while before we take her to her final resting place.  She is to be interned in Kansas.  I had warned her, if she passed away in the winter, she would be sitting on my mantel until it thawed out back there.  So her services will be held sometime in the spring in her home church with all her friends back there.  In the mean time, I will have her in my house where I can look at her lovely butterfly urn and remember all the memories we made in the past 10 years when she moved to my town.

So, if you have a living parent...........give them an extra hug today.  Give them a hug from me.  Tell them how much you love them.  Forgive them for their faults (there is no parent handbook).  Listen to the stories of their youth.  Acknowledge the fact, their life was way harder than yours, growing up.  You will be thankful you did all this when they leave you.  I am thankful I did.

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

Year 7 Week 26

 

Merry Christmas everyone!  I did not forget to post this week.  Bet you thought I was going to miss it LOL.  Just a little busy and not the best kind either.  Will get into that later.  Let's see what has been crafted on this week.

If you missed my post earlier this week..........The Petty Harbour socks are completed and have been worn already.  He loves them.

I could not think of anything new I wanted to cast on so I pulled this out:

The Faroese Prayer Shawl.  I put about 6 rows on it.  But.........it just could not hold my attention.  So I cast this on:

Socks!!!!!!!  I just can not stand m sock DPN's laying around without some yarn on them.  I cast these on the 22nd.  That means I was 4 days without socks on my needles.  Shameful, right?  If you have an aversion to wool, as I do, I suggest you try Naked Sock yarn.  It wears like iron and has a nice cushiness to it.  There is also a lovely stretch to it that makes it great to work with.  

Question:  Can anyone guess which pattern I making this time?  (Hint: I have made it before)

Onto life happenings:

My family all arrived safe and sound on Saturday the 23rd.  I was thankful for that.  We were all pretty excited about Mom's surprise party on Sunday.  But................Mom decided to surprise us instead.

She fell out of her wheelchair Saturday evening.  I received a phone call around 6pm that evening from her to let me know and she  said her bum was really sore.  We were not too concerned as she fell on the side that has a titanium hip in it.  Alas, Sunday morning, she said the pain was a lot worse so she asked to be taken to the hospital for xrays.  For hours later we find out she has fractured her pelvic bone in 2 spots.  They are keeping her at the hospital for a day or 2 just for pain management.  I ended up telling her we had planned a surprise party for her but DID NOT tell her who all is in town to celebrate.   We are hoping she will be released today or tomorrow and we will all gather with her at her facility and still have a party for her.  Fingers crossed........the family is leaving on Wednesday and really would like to spend some time with her.

We are all gathering at my Son's house for dinner today.  I am really looking forward to all of us being together.  I am getting my camera all ready for some candid photos of the day.

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

Last normal day

This will be my last normal day until next year.  The family starts to arrive tomorrow afternoon.  We won't be home when they do.  LOL  We will make sure they can get in the house by leaving a key with a neighbor.

Here is what our next few days look like.

23rd...........Open house at our Daughter's and Son in Law's.  We will attend Mass on that side of town for the 4th week of Advent.  They live about an hour away from us.  Brother and Niece arrive in town too.

24th............Pick up bday cake from Costco at 10.  Call discount cab to make sure they will be at my mom's to pick her up by 1:30 for her party.  Shhhhhhhh......it's a surprise.  Party with the family and friends from 2 to 5:30.  Attend Mass at our church for Christmas Day Obligation.  Open house with our oldest friends from our church.  Come home and CRASH!

25th................Christmas dinner at Son's and Daughter in Law's house with the whole family.

26th...............Family time with Niece's family of 5 and Brother's family of 2.  Maybe will get a nice walk in this day with my dogs.

27th...............Niece and family is leaving...............brother might leave.

28th..............Brother will for sure leave this day if he is still here

29th.................hurry up and clean the house again as Brother in Law from Vegas will probably be coming to stay with us for a few days.

30th..................Start prepping food for company

31st..................Annual party with good friends from Vegas.  Lots of food and love passed around all day.  Lucky for me, she is a knitter and we sit and knit while the guys watch football.  I have all the food pre-made and don't have to do anything once everyone gets here.  

January 1, 2018...........................Life will be back to normal again.

I have decided to go ahead and cast on another pair of socks.  Not sure when that will happen.  Maybe tonight while I am unwinding from my day of grocery shopping, laundry and rearranging our guest room.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers for my blood work.  It is getting better but not back to normal yet.  Please continue to pray.  Until my levels are normal again, I have had to go off all my Prescription drugs for my Arthritis.  I will just say that my body is not happy about that.  By 5 in the evening, my joints are screaming at me and they want drugs.  I am learning to deal with the pain (level being an 8) through prayer and concentrating on knitting.  

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

I am ready!

I really am ready for Christmas.  All the gifts have been bought.  They are all wrapped.  Some of them have even been delivered to their correct home.  I am so glad I have that all d one.  

Like many of my other crafting pals, I did not make Christmas gifts this year.  Nothing really spoke to me as far as needing to be made for anyone.  Also, the year we did all homemade gifts was so stressful, I still can not think of being on a deadline for a gift.

The past few days have seen this family being busy.

Sunday, after I finished teaching at church (RCIA = Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), hubby and I went to our local swap meet.  That is where I finished up my Christmas shopping.  We walked for 3 hours out there.  Needless to say, when we got home, we were a couple of tired old people.

Monday was my normal visit with my mom.  After I left her, I went to our Fry's (Kroger) and ordered dinner for Christmas so none of us have to spend the day cooking.  My son will pick it up on Saturday and all they have to do is warm it up on Sunday. There will be about 15 of us that day.  I would rather everyone enjoy family time rather than being in the kitchen tied to a stove or oven.

Tuesday I wrapped all the gifts.  I hate wrapping gifts.  Even gift bags don't make me happy anymore.  It took me about 3 hours to get everything wrapped.  Then hubby and I took off and went to some grocery stores to pick up much needed veggies and staples for our pantry.  We had just enough time to come home, put stuff away and head off to church for our Grand's Advent program.  We only have one more year and then she will be in high school!  How did that happen?

This morning, I got my nails done and then delivered some gifts to my son's house.  I also managed to get in to get my hair trimmed.  I was lucky enough to get the person I love and she did such a nice job of just TRIMMING my hair.  The last time I got it cut was 6 weeks ago and it has just now gotten to the point when I can work with it again.  I will never let that guy touch my hair again!

This afternoon, hubby and I are going out to my mom's for her annual Christmas party at her assisted living facility.  We missed the one last year as I was in Texas watching Grands.  They normally have it on a weekend but the place was recently sold and the new owners have other ideas.  Good thing we are retired LOL.

The rest of the week will be used to get ready for our company that will be arriving on Saturday.  I am so excited for mom's surprise bday party.  I have the cake ordered and will pick that up on Sunday around noon.  She wanted a carrot cake, but I went against her wishes and got her a white cake with strawberry filling and buttercream icing.  I needed something that would feed 30 people!  I will make her a carrot cake later on.

I did finish the sock....................finally!

He loves them.  I did not cast on another pair.........................yet.  I am working on a prayer shawl that has been on the back burner for several weeks.  I am not sure what I will be casting on next.  I have empty needles but I have so many WIP's yet.  I might just wait and when the spirit moves me, I will let  you all know.

OK, I need to get going.  I have missed not blogging as often as I did in November.

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

WEEK 25

Have you noticed how quickly the year 2017 is coming to a close?  I always heard, the older you get, the quicker time goes by.  I wonder if that was coined by Methuselah?

I am up super early today, thanks to a marvelous thunderstorm that arrived around 4am.  The thunder and lightening has moved on and now there is a lovely steady rain happening.  We sooooooo needed the moisture.  Winter in the desert is one of our 2 rainy seasons.  I know it is winter, as I turned on our heater yesterday, for the first time.  

This week did not see me accomplish all I wanted to.  I did get this far:

One sock is completed and the other one is frustrating me to no end.  I have been working on it every evening for at least 1 - 2 hours and it doesn't seem to be growing.

I need to get this to 7 3/4" before I start the toe.  I even accused hubby of getting up each night and ripping out all I did that day.  I am hoping to complete this yet this week.  

This coming weekend, my home will be filled with family.  There will be 11 of us for about 5 days.  Trying to meal plan for this group is not easy.  I am looking into casseroles (lasagna) and lots of burgers and hot dogs on the grill.  We have decided to order our Christmas Dinner from the local grocery store.  There will be a total of 17 of us for that meal and I don't think it is fair for 1 person to have to cook for that big of a crowd.

I still need to get busy and bake some cookies and brownies for the group.  Gotta have sweets for children.  There will also be fruit and nuts and veggies for snacking.  I guess I should make some bread too.  Haven't made any in almost a month!  Hubby and I have not even missed it.

Next Sunday, we are having a surprise birthday party for my mom's 90th.  Her actual bday is on Christmas but................most places are closed that day.  I am so excited for her to get out and see some family that has not been around in a few years.  It should be fun.  Say a little prayer that her transportation doesn't get this all messed up.  We have been having a little issue with them lately.

We were treated to a mini concert by our local grand.

Her actual band concert was this past Friday.  It was quite good.  She is playing her solo for us in this photo.  She did the theme song from Beauty and the Beast.  Don't you just love her outfit?  She had just gotten done with her softball game.  She plays center field.

This morning, I am teaching RCIA at our church.  My teaching companions will not be there with me.  Their father passed away this past week.  Totally understandable why they can not make it.  Lucky for me, the lesson is 90% on a video.  I mostly will be fielding questions from the class.

 There is still some Christmas shopping I need to do.  I have 1 gift left to buy and can not figure out what to get the person.  Wrapping will happen on Tuesday.  I have no appointments that day!  That will be my first "day off" in over 3 weeks.  I was going to have my knitting guru over to help me with this scarf, I need to make, but.....................he is under the weather so I told him to keep his cooties to himself.  It's not like I don't have other projects to work on.

Time for me to go and have another cup of coffee and a little breakfast.  If you would do me a favor and say a little prayer for me.  I have a very important blood test coming up this week.  This will be my third one.  I am having some issues with some of the levels in my system.  Please pray that things will be normal or very close to normal this time.  It is much appreciated.  So Thank You in advance!

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

Year 7 Week 24

Greetings from Arizona.  It is finally feeling like winter here with the highs this past week in the 60's.  It may not seem cold to you, but to us desert rats, it is sweater weather.  Our nights are dipping into the 30's, so yes, it is very cold for us.

I have ton's of photos for you this week.  It has been a busy week for hubs and I.  We finally got our house decorated for the upcoming Christmas holiday.

Our tree is up.  It has been up for 2 weeks.  The poinsettias just made it up this week.  No, they are not real but some silk ones I found on 1/2 off several years ago.  We added the white ones to them this year, just to give the entryway a bit more pop.

Hubs and I have been collecting nativities for the past 20 years.  I select a few each year that I want to display.  I managed to get all but 10 of them out this year.

Sorry about this being so blurry.  It was my phone camera and I was in a hurry to get all the photos taken for today.

This fireplace was the main selling point of our house.  It matches the front of our house and I love all the stone work.  The white nativity is my all time favorite.  It comes out every year.

My mom made our stockings when we were first married.  They mean the world to me.

As you can see, we no longer use our fireplace.  It is wood burning and because of our poor air quality in the winter time..............we have more ''no burn" days than nought.  So we use it as a place for decorations now.  Those candles in there are electric LED and change colors.  Quite festive and they stay there year round.

This is the table next to where I sit, if you couldn't tell.  LOL  As you can see, my knitting adorns it all the time.  This nativity is made out of copper and is probably my second favorite.

This is hubby's table by his chair. This is the first year I have put nativities on the tables and I am hoping it helps to keep them clear of clutter.

Just a few more on a table between living and dining room.

First bookcase of the entertainment center.  I do not know why these are so dark.  It is the same room as the other photos.

The other bookcase of the entertainment center.

Oh look............heels are done on hub's socks.  I am hoping to get these off the needles this week.  Not sure if I will make that though.  Our schedule is pretty filled up with appointments this week during the day.  I will need to work on them at night and I seem to be falling asleep earlier each day.  

I did start something new this week.

How many times, has someone asked you to pray for them.  I finally decided to start a prayer journal.  I write the names in it and the intention for which I am praying next to them.  When I find out the prayer is answered, I write a thank you next to that.  It is a little journal and fits nicely into my purse so I have it with me at all times.  This way, I do not forget anyone that has asked me for prayers.

After all of this hub bub of the week, this is how you will find me in the evenings.

Comfy slippers and jammy pants.  I actually have a cuppa next to me also and my knitting in my lap.  The end to a perfect day.

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

Week 23

What a hectic week.  We got home from Vegas on Wednesday and it haws been non stop since.  We did manage to get our Christmas tree up, nothing else yet.  Hopefully tomorrow we can get more done.  I have been having severe muscle spasms for 2 days and that put a damper on the decorating.  I am better today.  Just a little sore in the muscles that were spasming. 

Knitting has not really been happening much.  I finished one more wee sweater.  I need to get back to those this week.  The only other thing I have worked on is this:

The Petty Harbour socks.  I have just started on the fish kiss lip heel on this one.  I am really enjoying this pattern and hubby is very exited that they are being made for him.  I didn't think he would go for this colorway.  He loves it.

That is it for this week.  I still have Christmas shopping to do.  There are things that need to be mailed out soon for Christmas.  There are not enough hours in the day this time of year.

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