Home Sweet Home

 

It is so nice to be back home.  While I do miss my Texas family, I am glad to be back home with my husband and dogs.  I have some photos to show to you of my trip.  Don't worry, I did not take any photos of my DIL's incision so there are no squeamish photos.

This the view across the street in Texas.  It is a huge green belt and so nice to look at.  There were lots of bunnies running out of it and going in and out of yards in the neighborhood.

My DIL's family use to own a restaurant.  Her job was to make the guacamole for the restaurant each week.  While I was there, she was kind enough to teach me her recipe for this wonderful treat.  I must say, I did pretty darn good making it.  It was almost gone 3 days after I made it.  Yup, I think I did ok on it.

The next thing she taught me to make was her bloody mary recipe.  Oh my!  They were so good.  It was fun to learn all of these things.  She also taught me her spaghetti recipe.

Now, you may ask, didn't I know how to make any of these items before I went there?  Yes I did, but it is always fun to try new ways to make items.  The guacamole will probably be the one recipe I will repeat here at home.  We seldom drink hard liquor at our home so bloody marys will probably not be made here.  The spaghetti sauce may be used but with a few twists on my end to just step it up a notch.  We like our sauce a bit spicier.

If you have not flown since the pandemic hit, be aware that face masks are required, by federal law, once you step foot into the airport and must remain on through your flight and are not to be removed until you exit the arrival airport.

I took this photo while waiting for my flight in Dallas.  Everyone was compliant.  

When I saw all these planes waiting to take off, all I could think of was how much longer I would be behind the face mask.  We took off 30 minutes late but managed to land 10 minutes early.  Go figure.

This week, I am dog watching and picking up the teen from school each day.  Next week, I am hoping life will return to a more normal schedule.

Tonight was trivia night.  Hubby, our daughter and myself were the team members.  Surprise!  We took first place!  It has been a while since we took first place.  There were a total of 10 or 11 teams so we felt pretty good about the win.  Now to go back next week and try and defend our title.

Time to go to bed.  I am still trying to get back onto our time zone.  

Until next time.........................................

WEEK 43

 

Once again I am saying 'hello' from the state of Texas.  I am only here a couple of more days and then I head back home.  It is so hard to leave to leave my family here.  Yet, I miss my family back in Arizona a whole bunch.  I will say, being away from home I seemed to have had more time to pick up my knitting needles and work on my projects.

Case in point:

Hubby's socks are completed.  This is a horrible photo but it was late last night and all I had was my phone to take the photo.  Trust me, these are even brighter in 'real life'.  I really enjoyed doing the contrasting toes and heels and am looking forward to doing that again.  The yarn is called Margaritaville from Brazen Stitchery on Etsy.  When I ordered this last year, it came paired with the contrasting yarn so that was super easy for me.

Now that those are finished, I can spend the next couple of days working on my shawl I brought with me.  Hopefully, I will get quite a few rows put on it between my down time here and on my 2.5 hour flight back home.

I have also been working in the kitchen while here.  I had a request to make my fudge while here.  I have never made fudge outside of the Christmas season.  It turned out excellent and is being enjoyed by the grand kids.

Then I decided to treat the whole family to one of their favorite desserts.

I made cheesecake in the Ninja Foodi pressure cooker.  It is so easy to do.  The recipe says it is New York Cheesecake and it does not lie.  I made two of these as I know they will not last long.

Other than that, the daughter in law is healing nicely.  She and I take a nice little walk around the neighborhood each morning.  By lunch time she is pretty well spent.  After she rests for a few hours, she is back up and around in the evening until bedtime.  I see improvement each day with her.  I am taking her to her post op appointment tomorrow morning.  That will tell us what restrictions will be lifted.

My hope is to take a few photos today and tomorrow of the lush green area they live in.  The neighbors are all so friendly and warm.  I even got to pet a labradoodle yesterday, who just happened to be walking by the house with her owner.  Last night I pet the neighbor's chicken.  And I don't even like feathered creatures.

That about covers it.  Time for me to go and wake up the DIL so she can take her meds and start functioning for the day.

Until Next Time........................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Texas Week 2

 

Today starts my second week in Texas.  That also mean it is my last week here.  I have been asked to stay longer but unfortunately, I have obligations back at home I need to go and take care of.  I would have love to stay longer to help out, but, it just can't be.

DIL is having good days and bad days.  It is to be expected.  I am praying the good days happen more often than the bad soon.  Right now we are doing 1 good, 1 bad, repeat.  Although, I will say she is a very good patient and doesn't give me grief about anything I do for her to make her more comfortable.

The one thing I am trying to get used to is the weather here.  Look at the comparison of here to where I come from.

There is a frost advisory for here tonight!  Back home (on the left) they are in the 80s and 90s.  We finally hit the 80s here just before I go back home.  I have been in long pants, and layered tops and still am cold.  And wind.................lots of wind here.  Yes, I lived in Texas for a year.  And where I lived is only about 60 miles northeast of here.  But I do not remember it being this chilly in April.  

That being said......yesterday was beautiful and in the mid 70's.  DIL and I took a couple of walks around her neighborhood and it was glorious.  Not thinking that will happen today.

In other news....................I got a lovely surprise last night.

My Grandson and his Girlfriend came over as a little surprise for me.  It was so happy to see them.  It has been 2 years and that is WAY to long not to see grandchildren.  They will be back over this weekend for a family dinner and I will have the joy of having 3 grands all together at one time.  If I am lucky, I may have 4 but not sure if one of them will be back from his trip he is on at the moment.

Knitting on the socks continues at a snails pace. Every 30 minutes I am checking on my patient and helping her with daily living activities.  It has been my pleasure to do it too.  It has given me so much time to really get to know her.  She and my son have only been married 5 years and 1 of those years she was deployed to the middle east and 2 of those years we were separated thanks to covid and other responsibilities.  She is a lovely person and I am blessed to be able to have this time with her.

Until next time.........................................................

WEEK 42

 

Hello from Texas.  I arrived here on Tuesday and will be here for a another 10 days.  DIL's surgery went well and we are now working on the hardest part............healing.  Each day I can see an improvement in her.  It is very encouraging.  Hopefully, by the time I leave, she will be feeling more like herself.  She will still be in her C-collar so neck/head movement will be limited but, I think she will feel like being up and about more.

Anyway, you didn't come here to hear about all of that.  How about we talk knitting?

  Both heels are now completed.  I am loving the contrasting heels and look forward to doing toes too.  These are pretty much all I have worked on since leaving home.  I do have my shawl knitting with me but it is so hard to drop in a middle of a lace row when needed for nursing duties.  

That's it for knitting this week.  Otherwise, it has been 'nursing' duties, doing dishes, being the teen's chauffer and helping with dogs.  I am enjoying every minute of it too.

When you look out your rear view mirror and see this:

You know you are in Texas.  Yes, I saw this yesterday while driving home from WalMart.  Made me laugh so hard, I almost missed my turn.

Until Next Time.........................................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Made It

 

Howdy from Texas.  Yesterday saw me leaving Arizona, boarding an airplane and flying to Texas.  I will be here for the next 2 weeks, helping out around the house while my Daughter in Law recovers from Cervical Spine surgery.

After I arrived yesterday, I got the privilege of taking my Grand Teen to shop for school uniforms.  How fun it is to drive to a place you have no idea where it is, using a navigational system that does not speak to you and getting lost.  It only took an hour to travel the 10 miles to the uniform shop.  Once that was done, it was another adventure getting back to their house.  We did find a Burger King on the way home and got some food since neither of us had eaten all day.

This is what most of Arizona looks like from the air.  Yes, those are mountains.............not hills, MOUNTAINS!  over 65% of our state is mountain ranges.

Here is what Texas looks like from the air.  Mostly flat but very green.  Amazing how different the 2 states are.

The flight was very smooth and I had a very nice person sitting in the same row as me.  I had purchased two seats so we did have the middle seat vacant which was really nice.  Otherwise, the plan was packed full.  No beverages are being served on the flight so people had to leave their masks on.  By the time I got outside in Texas, I was so done with the mask.  It had been on my face for almost 6 hours without a break.  It was pretty wet, just from me breathing.  At least, that tells me it is pretty dense so that is a good thing.

Daughter in Law spent last night in the hospital and we are hoping she will be coming home today.  Her surgery went quite well and now we just start the road to recovery.  

Last night I had a buddy come in for a sleep over.

This is Bandit.  He thought I might be missing my dogs so he stayed with me all night.  He is about 10 times bigger than the dog that sleeps with me at home.  But, at least, he doesn't snore LOL.  My little dog snores like a grumpy old man.

Today, I will be working around the house trying to get stuff picked up and put away.  I was told not to worry about cleaning the house as they are still in the middle of bathroom remodeling and the dust is flying all over.  That leaves laundry and cooking for me to attend to while here as well as making sure DIL has everything she needs.  Oh, and I also am responsible for getting the Grand to appointments.

OK, that is all for now.  I think I have time to pick up my knitting and work on that a bit before anything else needs to be done.

Until next time..........................................................

Week 41

 Another week has passed.  Amazing how that keeps happening.  I did get a fair amount of crafting done this week.

I did my first contrasting heel.  This time, I decided to do the FLK heel instead of my eye of partridge heel flap with gusseted heel.  I forgot how simple this is to do.  Hopefully it will fit hubby as well as the other heel.  He has complained in the past that socks with this heel are hard to get on.  

With sock 1 having the heel completed, I picked up sock 2 and got to work on it.  I was hoping to have the heel completed on this one before I boarded my plane on Tuesday.  There is still a possibility of that happening.  I only need another 56 rows completed in 2 days.  That is 28 rows each day.  Very possible.

I also did a little knitting on my shawl.

Can you see where my stitch count got off in the very beginning of the lace rows?  Since that part will be on my neck area, I decided not to tink back to fix it.  Once the entire shawl is completed, I doubt that one row will even be noticeable.  This pattern is so nice to knit.  Once you get the rhythm of the lace, it goes pretty smoothly.  It should be perfect to wear here, in those places that think it is great to run their A/C at sub zero temperatures all year round.

I made 6 face masks this week.  Four for me and 2 for Josie.  The new masks will be going with me to Texas.  Even though they no longer have a mask mandate, I still feel better wearing a mask when going into group settings like the grocery store.  Besides, all airports and airlines are requiring masks to be worn at all times.

And that, my friends, is all I did on crafting this week.  My cross stitch was not touched at all.  Well, I take that back.  I put it away so my dogs would not bother it while I was gone.

I did something that is not normal for me.

I have started to make a real effort to wear dresses to Mass.  I normally wear slacks and a blouse.  My daughter gave me a couple of her dresses that she did not wear and I tried them on.  They are quite comfy.  So, yesterday, I put one on to wear to Mass and was very comfortable  the whole time.  In fact, we went to our BFF's house after mass and then to dinner and never did I regret having a dress on.  I do own several dresses so will start to wear them also.  Do you see Enrique sniffing my dress?  Watch the video below.

My BFF owns 2 dogs and is fostering a third dog.  I loved on all the dogs when we were over there and Enrique is trying to figure out why I have so many dog smells on me.  Luna gave me one sniff and walked away.  As long as I feed her and love her she could care less that I was with another animal.

Today I will be finishing up the laundry and getting clothes organized for the trip.  Their weather there is about 20-30 degrees cooler than here so will be taking my 'winter' clothes with me.  My project bag is packed and ready to go, other than the sock I am working on.

I love this bag.  It is from "Crafting my chaos".  It was purchased last year when my fiber fest got cancelled.  They were supposed to be one of the vendors at the fiber fest.  So, when I did my fiber fest shopping this was one of my treasures I got.  I have both socks as well as my shawl and all needed yarn, patterns and tools in this bag and still have plenty of room for more.  It is the only project bag I have ever purchased as I normally make mine.  The Mardi Gras pattern is what grabbed me.

Isn't it amazing that the first thing I make sure is ready to go is my knitting projects?  Do you other crafters do that too?

Until Next Time..................................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!!

April Blessings

April is one of my favorite months.  All the flowers are in full bloom and the trees are leafing out just beautifully.  Normally our temps would only be in the 80's but this year they are already in the high 90's.  We kind of missed spring here LOL.  Maybe that will mean our pool will heat up quicker this year.  Our mornings are still in the 50's which is quite nice and perfect to be outside to enjoy the crisp morning air.

This is also the month where I have a niece and several nephews with birthdays.  It was also the month of my Dad's birthday.  He would have been 100 this year.  It is hard to believe he has been gone for 45 years.  It also the month my mom and dad got married as well as my mom and stepdad's wedding too.  It is also the month we took my mom back home to her final resting place which was a trip filled with lovely memories.

This month will be the first time I have taken any kind of extended trip in two years.  Yes, I have traveled away from home but only for about 2-3 days.  This time it will be for 2 weeks.  I am looking forward to the trip even though there will be lots of work to be done while I am taking care of my DIL.  It will be so nice to see my Grand kids again and if I get lucky, I might get to see my Great Grand too.  

The one thing I was hoping for, before I left, was to have the guttering fixed.  Remember how I told you the guttering on the back of my house got blown off?  Well here is a photo of it.

It really got twisted in the 'fall'.  I really shouldn't complain.  This was installed almost 25 years ago by Sears.  You remember Sears, don't you?  Back then, they nailed the guttering into the wood fascia.  Well, the wood fascia had some issues too, so we are in need of getting parts of that replaced.  So, today, the roofers are coming to repair the fascia.  Once that is completed, we will need to paint the new fascia before the guttering company comes to put up the new gutters.  Fingers crossed this can all get completed before I leave next Tuesday.  Well, probably not the new guttering, but everything else.  In fact, the roofers are here now.

On Monday, I met up with one of my long time friends for lunch.  It was so nice to get caught up on each other's lives.  She makes me laugh with all of her stories.  I was so fortunate for this meet up as she has quite a few books she wants to get rid of.  Since I was quite low on actual books, I told her I would love to have a few to read.

Here are the books she gave me.  She also informed me there were about 50 more when I was finished with these.  I have read the synopsis of each of these books and they all sound like excellent books.  The one I am reading now, "The Hope Chest" is quite good, even if it is a little sad.  From what she told me, she and her sisters formed their own 'book club'.  So each month they pick a book to read and then get together over the internet and discuss it.  Doesn't that sound like fun? 

While the roofers are here, I am going to make a few masks for my trip.  Even though the mask mandate in TX has been lifted and I have been vaccinated, I am still not going to go into public places without a mask on.  I prefer my double fabric cloth masks to the paper disposable ones.  So today I will make a few new ones as my others are starting to show their wear from the past 18 months.  Cotton material only stands up to so many washings LOL.

Tonight is trivia night.  Our daughter said she is going to come down and join us tonight.  I am glad too.  You see, last night I made baked Ziti in my Ninja foodi.  I followed the recipe exactly as written.  Well, after hubby and I ate our helping I still had enough left over for another 6 servings.  Tonight, I am sending some of that home with our daughter so she and her hubby can have it tomorrow night for dinner.  Note to self, next time, cut the recipe in half!

Time for me to get busy so I can take the afternoon and work on some of my knitting or cross stitch.

Until next time..........................................................

WEEK 40 & EASTER SUNDAY

 

Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate it.  Happy Pesach to those of you who celebrate it.  Otherwise, happy Sunday.

This week was pretty quiet for me.  I am no longer playing chauffeur for my BFF.  She is now driving once again.  That meant I got a bit more time to work on my projects this week.  Have a look.

I am just a few rows away from starting the contrasting heel on hubby's sock.  The short color changes on the yarn have made this sock seem to go fast.

I decided to go ahead and start the second sock too.  Once I get to the heel on the first sock, I will put it on hold until the second sock is at that spot too.

I was able to start the second sock because I got these in the mail this week.

Two more row counters.  Aren't they cute?  I could not believe how quickly they came.  I ordered them from South Dakota on Thursday and they arrived in Arizona on Saturday.  USPS really had their act together for this one.

I started another new project too.

A new shawl pattern.  It was specifically written for the Scheepjes Whirl yarn.  I have two skeins of this yarn in my stash.  Each skein is over 1000 yards.  It is 60% cotton & 40% acrylic.  It has a very soft hand and a lovely drape.

Don't ask me how to pronounce the name of the shawl.  I do know it is Finnish for popsicle.  The only reason I decided to start a new shawl is because I am going on a trip in another week and wanted something to take with me other than socks.  (More about the trip later in this post)

The only other project I have worked on is my cross stitch.

This gets my attention in the mornings while I am doing my prayers and meditation.  I do have a question for those of you who cross stitch.  When working on a pattern, do you try and do all one color or do you work in sections?  For small samplers, like this one, I tend to try and work all one color at a time.  For big ones, I find I do sections so as not to move my hoop often.

Now, as for this trip I am taking.......................My daughter in law in Texas, is having surgery on the 12th.  She will have limited mobility for about 4-6 weeks and they have asked me to come and help out around the house for a couple of weeks.  The CDC has said, those who are fully vaccinated are able to travel as long as they continue to wear a mask.  I have no issues with wearing a mask and yes, I am fully vaccinated.  I wish I could stay the entire 4-6 weeks to help them out, but that is just not possible.  After the first couple of weeks, she should be able to know exactly what her limitations are and will be able to work around them.  Driving will be the only thing she will be relying on others to help out with after 2 weeks.  I am excited to be going as I have not seen my Kids or Grandkids in Texas for almost 2 years!  

This past week, hubby played tutor for Josie.  He has helped her with her Math classes for the past several years.

This was Wednesday night while we were waiting for Trivia to get started at our local bar and grill.  They were very intense, but she got her homework completed while we were there.

And, today I leave you with a little chuckle.

Have a great week!

Until Next Time.........................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!!