WEEK 9

 

Another week, another update.  I was much more productive craft-wise this week.  Have a look.

KNITTING

Hubby's RCR socks got a bit of attention.  I still have 40 rows before I start the toe.  I am in no rush.  He might be though.  He wore the heel out in another pair of socks this past week.  If the man would stop walking around in only his socks, they might not die.  But then, they were several years old.

Guess who's socks got the most attention this week?  Yup, mine!  I am about 10 rows away from starting the toe.  My goal is to have this sock completed today and to cast on the next one immediately.  

CROCHET

*sigh* nothing here

CROSS STITCH

again nothing

DIAMOND ART

The 'Faith' diamond art is completed.  This is only 12"x12" so not all that big.  It was the perfect piece to travel with me on my 'Josh watching' days.

I continue to work on my nativity scene at home.

This is completed up to the blue line.

This is all I have left to complete.  You can see I have made a bit of progress on it.  I really look forward to getting this one completed.

LEGO

still on hold

Puzzle

Bits and pieces have been done on this one.  Actually, most of the easy parts are done.  Now to tackle the much harder areas.  

SEWING

Nothing this week, but stay tuned.  I have been informed my services are going to be needed this coming week.

BOOKS

I finished 'The Lies We Leave Behind'.  A very good book but not the ending I was hoping for.  But, I am a hopeless romantic.

BAKING

Last week I bragged about my active sourdough starter.  This means I needed to use it.  Bread is all fine and good but, my house is warm and the bread only lasts about 3 days and then begins to mold.  So, I decided to use it for something else.

Lemon Blueberry scones.  They are so wonderful.  Perfect for breakfast.  These are made with discard so I do not need to worry about feeding or timing for the peak rise of the starter.  Infact, most of my SD items I make are made with discard or unfed starter.  Even my bread!

LIFE

Things are pretty much the same here.  Josh has good days and not such great days.  We did get hospice to switch him from oxycodone to morphine.  This has really helped with his delusions and hallucinations.  I got to thinking.....I am not able to take hydrocodone or codeine as they both give me horrible hallucinations.  If I have the issue, maybe he does too.  Sure enough!  So glad we finally got that taken care of.  He is getting weaker in his legs.  We are now making him use his walker and if we go out, he is in a wheelchair.  

Stacie's parents have returned from Seattle.  They will be a BIG help for Stacie and Josh.  Her mom pitches in with all the household chores and her dad fixes anything that needs attending too.  Plus, her dad will sit and watch TV with Josh during the day and keep him entertained.  This should also help ease up our schedules a bit too.  When you hear the phrase "it takes a village", think of us.  There is no way Stacie and Josie could do this all on their own.

Joe and I are doing well.  Our schedules will be getting a bit busier.  He is teaching a weekly Bible study class starting in September as well as teaching Catechism class once a month.  He also is taking a weekly class online related to our Faith.  This gives me lots of time to work on all my projects.  Not to mention, I get to watch all those chick flicks he has no interest in.

We did do something different this week.  Well, kind of different.  Every Tuesday, our local sports bar and grill has 2 for 1 burgers.  This has become our weekly date night.  When we go we play Buzz Time trivia on their electronic system.  Well, Buzz Time has been down for a couple of weeks.  This week when we went, I took our Cribbage board with us.  We had so much fun. It had been almost 20 years since we had played.  

Here is your chuckle for the week.....................................

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

WEEK 8

The most non-productive week ever!  I worked on all my projects but it doesn't seem I made much progress.

KNITTING

Added 10 rows to each sock.  Not photo worthy

PUZZLE

Still struggling with this.  I do manage to get a few pieces in each day.  Maybe next week it will show progress that is photo worthy.

DIAMOND ART

I worked on both of my pieces.  The 'Faith' piece has a bit more color added to it but not worth a photo op yet.  The Nativity is still on the same section.  I am hoping to get that section completed this week so the last section can be moved onto the light board.  Not photo worthy either.

CROCHET

Nada

SEWING

I pinned a pair of pants for hemming.  Nothing too exciting

READING

Two books were finished this week.

    Booked for Christmas

    Bones and Roses

Hmmm, maybe this is why nothing else really got much attention.

CROSS STITCH

Nada

LEGO

Nada

This week was the week I resurrected my sourdough starter and got it going again.  I have had it in the fridge for at least 2 months.  Once I took it out and got to feeding it again, I had more starter than ever.  I have made 2 batches of crackers and 2 loaves of bread.  My starter (Dotty) is back in the fridge but will be making her appearance again this week for another loaf of bread as well as scones.

LIFE

Things are the same with Josh.  He is in 'fantasy land' a bit more and sleeps off and on throughout the day.  We now have a closer eye on him as he tried to walk out the front door last week and had no idea where he was.  He also tried to go up the stairs 'to his bedroom'.  The Master bedroom has been moved to the main floor for several months now.  

Hubby and I went to our farmers market today and got a 30 pound bag of Hatch green chili.  It was roasted for us (we watched) and then we took it and bagged it.  Jay and Tiff went with us and we split the chilis between us.  We are set for the next year or two now.  This was the first time we had been to this farmers market.  We were super impressed with the prices and freshness of all their produce. They also carried many locally made items like honey and lemonade. We will be going back there.  I would rather give my business to a local farmer than the chain grocery store.

Incase you are wondering...............it is still HOT here.  We are hoping to have a few days below 100 this coming week.  Might even get a bit of rain.  We got some sprinkles this past week but it was actually just sprinkles.  The wind had a heyday here though.  Many trees were uprooted in our area.  We did not sustain any damage at our place.

I can not leave without giving you a little chuckle.

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

WEEK 7

 

I was busy this week with my projects.  Nothing got completed, other than books.  Progress was made on all of them.  Wanna see?

Good!  Here we go...............................

KNITTING

Both of the RCR socks got about 20 rows added to them.  I consider these my slow but steady project.  Neither hubby or I are in dire need of socks at the moment.  Therefore, these can take their time getting finished and sock #2 being done.  Good for TV viewing or for take along projects.

DIAMOND ART

A new section of the LARGE project has been started.  I am trying to limit myself to an hour a day max to work on this.  Otherwise, I will completely get absorbed and nothing else in my house will get accomplished.  (ie: making dinner, laundry, feeding Enrique etc.)

I did start a new Diamond Art that travels with me to Josh's house.  

This will be the finished product.  I may gift this one to a dear friend.  She is a woman of great faith and inspires me every time I have a conversation with her.

CROCHET

 

Move along

SEWING

Keep going

CROSS STITCH

Nothing here either

LEGO

Nope

PUZZLE

YES!  I finally got one out and started on it.

I am not very far along with it.  There is an excellent reason for that.  Here is the box it came in.

Inside I find this piece of paper.

I called my friend, who I got the puzzle from, and questioned her.  Seems, they ordered this from Amazon and while putting it together realized the puzzle in the box was not what they were working on.  She was kind enough to go online and find a photo of what they actually were making and put it in the box for the next unknowing person to find and use to help with the puzzle.  That photo is only about half a page big so details are a bit hard to see in it.  I will persevere.

READING

This has been my strong suit this week. I finished 'Home for Christmas'.  Next up was one of my 'on hold' books..........The Apothecary's Poison.  That also was completed and now I am reading 'Booked for Christmas'.  I should finish that one either today or tomorrow.  I do believe there is a third book in the Christmas series.  So, until my other books that are on hold show up, I will continue with that series.

SOMETHING NEW BUT OLD

Those of you that have followed me for sometime know I started working with sourdough a few years back.  I have neglected it for a few months now.  Yesterday, I pulled my starter out of its little fridge and decided to get it active again.  I have 5 days in a row that I normally do not have any out of the home activities.  Hence, there is no reason I can not get back into my sourdough baking and maintain an active healthy starter at all times.  Fingers crossed!

LIFE

I only spent one day this week with Josh.  So, lots of home chores got taken care of.  For starters, a load of donations got dropped off.  I also gave back books I had borrowed from Josie some time ago.  I organized all my diamond art projects.  All the laundry was done.  Bread was made.  Menus were completed as was grocery shopping.  Enrique's dog food was cooked and bagged and frozen.  But the best thing ever..................We finally got our solar back on!  We had been without solar power for 11 days.  And naturally, it was the hottest 11 days of our entire year (118F 48C).  My poor electric bill is going to be HUGE!  But, now we are back on solar and it is wonderful to see my electric usage charge being almost nil.  HAPPY DANCE!

This coming week, we have 2 days we will be with Josh.  He is about the same as last week.  His memory timeline is getting worse and delusions are more frequent.  He even knows his brain is not functioning correctly and it really upsets him that he can not control it.  But, we usually manage to get it turned around and make some jokes about it and then he feels better.

We have some horrible mountain forest fires happening in our state right now.  Depending on how the wind blows, we can get some of the smoke and smell here in the valley.  This was taken on Wednesday night when I took Enrique out for his bedtime potty break.  The minute I opened the door, I could smell the smoke that was coming from 100 miles away.

The pink glow is the smoke hiding the moon.  It was so nasty outside.  My friend, with asthma, has had to stay indoors for several days because of our horrible air quality here.  Thankfully, Thursday night, we finally got some rain to help cleanse the air.  The last few days we have had some good breezes too which is blowing the crud out of here.  Oh the joys of big city life!

I do have a little chuckle for you today.............................

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

WEEK 6

 

Hey there!  Good to have you back again.  Hope your week went well for you.  Mine was productive as well as enjoyable.  I have a finished item to show this week.

KNITTING

Hubby's RCR socks are completed and in his drawer.  I was so inspired by the completion of these I decided to cast on more RCR socks.  Yes, that is plural!

These are for hubby since they are wool.  Once again, the yarn is from Leading Men Fibers.

These are for ME!  It is Diversity Yarn.  I love this yarn for the stretch it has and yet never looses its shape.  Wears quite well too.  Hubby has socks in this yarn that are MANY years old and still look brand new.  My only complaint is all their yarn is self striping.  I would love to have a solid or variegated color in this yarn to play with.

DIAMOND ART

I only worked on my Diamond are 3 days this past week.  I was very focused on sock knitting.  Yet, I did get the section I was working on completed and started a new section last night.

Here is the current section I am working on.  The star is the halfway point for this project.

The left side is what I completed the middle of the week.  My biggest problem with working on this is, once I start I have a hard time stopping.  I worked on it 5 hours yesterday.  Time just slips away when working on it.

READING

The book I was reading last week got returned as I was correct and had seen the Hallmark Movie of it.  I did check out another book.  'Home for Christmas in July'.  I am thoroughly enjoying this little mystery/romance.  Naturally, as soon as I got started reading this book one of my 'on hold' books became available.  I had to put that book back on hold as I am not good at reading 2 books at the same time.  

Crochet

Not yet

Puzzles

I finally got all my boxes to Goodwill so my dining room table is now available to set a puzzle up on it.

Sewing

Keep on moving to the next category

Cross Stitch

Nope, nothing here either

Lego

Nothing new built and the Notre Dame build is still at a stand still.

I was informed that putting an 's' on the end of Lego is a big No-No.  Sorry.  I did not mean to cause any upset in Denmark.  Forgive us Americans.  We mean no offense.  

Life

Pretty normal week here.  I spent 1.5 days with Josh this week.  We saw a large change this week in his delusions, paranoia and anxiety.  This tells us his cancer is continuing to wreck havoc in his brain.  His short term memory has decreased to maybe about 2-5 minutes and his long term is laced with fiction along with facts.  It can make for some very interesting stories!

As you probably remember, Hubby and I have been getting up very early every Saturday, for several years, to gather food from local grocers to take to our church's food bank.  This week, we decided this will be the last month of us participating in this worthy endeavor.  My RA is preventing me from any heavy lifting and hubby is starting to have issues with lifting heavy items too.  We have enjoyed our time doing this but at some point you have to know your limitations. 

Here is your chuckle for the week.......................

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

WEEK 5

 

Once again it is time to fill y'all in on the activities of the past week.  Let's go!

Diamond Art

I am still working on the big Nativity scene.

This section looks like it is almost done, right?

Looks a bit different when I turn on my light pad, doesn't it.  Most of the dark beads have been added in this section.  Now I will do the lighter colors and move on to section #2.  

Knitting

The first RCR sock is completed!

Yes, I was a good girl and immediately started the second sock.

The heel is completed and I am on the boring foot part.  Only 68 more rows before the toe.  This wool yarn is my favorite to work with for socks.  It is Show Stopper from Leading Men Fibers.  Even though I am allergic to wool, this one does not affect my hands when using it.  When I discovered that, I tried to wear an item made out of this wool,  Nope!  Not able to wear this wool either.

Crochet

Nothing to see here

Reading

I finished my cozy mystery book 'The Mapmaker's Apprentice'.  The third book in the series is not available at this time.  I did put a hold on it.  So I started reading 'Crowned and Moldering'.  I am not sure I will finish this one as I do believe I saw the Hallmark movie done on this one so there will be no surprise as to 'who dun it' for me.  Hopefully, one of the 8 books I have on hold will come available soon.

Puzzles

Again, nothing here

Sewing

*SIGH* Nope, nothing

Cross Stitch

I actually did pull out one of my cross stitch projects and added about 15 stitches on it.  I just could not get the mojo going for it.  It is back in a holding pattern for now.

Legos

Nothing new has been added to Notre Dame.  Although, 2 more Lego builds were purchased this past.  They are small ones and I will probably work on those in times when none of my other projects call my name.

Life

I spent 3 days this past week being care giver for Josh while Stacie went to the office.  That is how the RCR sock got finished.  We also had a special birthday this past week.

Josie turned 20!  This is her and her boyfriend, Nate.  We had a small gathering at our Organ Stop Pizza restaurant.  There were about 15 of us there to celebrate.  We have done this every year since she was a born.  In fact, we did this the day before she was born which started the tradition.

I even managed to get a great photo of her and her parents!  Josh did so well this night.  I was impressed.  Since then, he has had some significant changes that have us a bit concerned.  Hopefully we will know more about these changes in the next week.  Waiting on Hospice to let us know what they want to do.  I know this is a bit cryptic, but until I know more I do not want to speculate as to what is going on.

I finally got my hair cut!  I have been growing out a bad pixie cut for a year.  Yes, a year this month.  There have been a couple of trims on the sides and many trims on the back.  But, finally I was able to get it cut into the style I have been wanting for over a year.  

It is hard to see from this photo but the back of this is 'stacked' and OFF MY NECK!  Super easy to take care of too.  Just wash, blow dry and leave the house.

Do you know how hard it is to take a photo of the back of your head?  Well, this is what mine looks like.  Yes, I have a couple of little 'spots' that need trimming up and I have no problem doing that myself.

Today, I am sitting here listening to copious amounts of noise coming from our roof.  We are installing more solar panels to our home.  We will then be 94% solar powered in our home.  We have been about 50% powered for the past several years and it has really helped with our electric bill.  I am excited to see what the increase of solar will do for us. We live in the perfect state for it too.

After the solar is completed, I am planning on doing some laundry, baking banana bread, working with my sourdough (which has been neglected for a few months) and maybe, just maybe go relax in the pool for a bit.  I did most of my 'kitchen duties' yesterday of cleaning all the fruits and veggies I purchased on Friday.  So, today is fun day in the kitchen.  

Here is your bit of humor for the week.

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

WEEK 4

 

Greeting everyone.  Another week as gone by.  I managed to stay out of the ER this past week!  HOORAY!  I am feeling fantastic and had a blessed week.  Things go accomplished too.

DIAMOND ART

So glad to have this one done.  It was very involved with all the color changes.  Now to find a frame for it and get it hung in hubby's office.  

Bookmarks!  I need to seal these and then put their tassels on them.  These are great for the days I go to Josh's.  I have 4 more of them to do.  

I just started this yesterday.  It is a BIG one.  It measures 16" X  34".  Not a traveling project.  It has 37 different colors in it.  That is the most colors I have ever had on one project.  It will be well worth it when completed though.

KNITTING

Hubby's RCR is my constant companion.  I am very close to the starting the toe.  

My fingers are itching to cast on either a baby hat or a dishcloth.  I am trying hard not to do that as I really want hubby's socks to be 100% completed.  If I were to cast on, they would go to the back burner and languish for who knows how long.

CROCHET

Again, I am itching to start another shawl for the cancer ministry.  If I finish the first sock and cast on the second, I may allow myself the joy of starting a shawl.

READING

I finished 'The Women' by Kristin Hannah

I loved it!  Having lived during the Vietnam War, this book really took me back to my high school days and all the feels of that time.  It was so good I managed to finish it in 3 days time.  

I am still reading 'The Mapmaker's Apprentice'.  I did pause reading it so I could read 'The Women' since I had placed it on hold back in November.  I didn't want to delay my hold and end up waiting another month or more.  

PUZZLES

Nope.  Starting one has been on my mind but there are only so many hours in the day.  

SEWING

Nope.  I do have several items That need hemming up.  Not sure when I will get to those.  They are not for me but for Jaxon.  My issue is they are super stretchy material and have a tendency to pucker when being sewn.  I know there is a way to make it work, I just have not taken the time to really work on it.  I bought the machine from JoAnn's and since they are no longer in business, I will need to find out who can help me with my Husqvarna machine.

CROSS STITCH

Nope.  I don't know why I don't pull one of the two pieces out and put in a few stitches each day.  Both of them sit right beside my chair.  It's not like I need to go scrounging to find them!

LEGOS

I did purchase a new legos kit.  It was on half price and one on my wish list.  It will stay in the box for a while though.  Notre Dame is still unfinished.  I would work on it but...........hubby said he made a couple of mistakes and needs to undo some areas before continuing.  Since I have no idea of where those mistakes are, I refuse to touch it until corrections have been made.

LIFE

The rest of last week was pretty quiet............for a change.  I did need to get blood work done for my Rheumatologist but that was easy.  I spent one and a half days with Josh.  He is spending more time in bed and becoming more confused about timelines and things that happened IRL.  It can be quite entertaining at times. 

Here is what made me laugh this week

 

My dog would attack me if I tried this with him.  He won't even let me put a sweater on him in the winter.

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

WEEK 3 OF YOP 15

 

Hey there!  Time to talk about my past week.  While there was not a lot of crafting going on, there was a lot going on.

I finished the last eyeglass case.

They have all been sealed and are waiting to go to their new homes.  

I have started another Diamond Art project.

I am almost half way done with this one.  Hubby fell in love with this so it will probably go in his office area when completed and framed.

I also worked on his RCR sock a bit this week.

I added about 20 rows to it.  The color keeps calling to me which makes it easy for me to pick it up and add a few rows now and then.

The best part of the week is the new crafting area we now have for our legos and diamond art.  WARNING!!!!!    Crappy photo coming.

You can not really see it in the photo but, this table has 2 drawers under the wood top.  The drawers span the entire length of the table.  I am able to store my lightboard and stand as well as my tools used for the Diamond Art in one drawer. The other drawer is for hubby's crafts.  The table raises and lowers so it is comfortable to whoever is using it.  I can sit there and still watch TV with hubby.  I had been working on a TV tray and it was a challenge to say the least.

I finished a book this week.  The Watchmaker's Daughter.  It was an enjoyable mystery and #1 in a series.  I started the second book in the series on Thursday.  The Mapmaker's Apprentice.  I get all my books through the Libby app.  So much easier than heading downtown to our library and trying to find a book there and then needing to take it back after 2 weeks.  This way I just find the book I want, check it out and read it on my kindle app and return it electronically.  I have read 14 books so far this year.  There are 5 more I tried to read but could never 'get into' them.  I go through spurts where reading is all I want to do and then times when I could care less about picking up a book. GASP!

Hubby and I just finished up watching all 5 seasons of 'The Chosen'..  We also watched the first season of 'Ballard'.  Hopefully they will do a second season of that.  Now to find another series.  Any suggestions?  

In other news................I ended up in the ER again this week.  I had mentioned, last week, I was having some tachycardia from the meds they gave me for my pleurisy.  Well, it did not improve over the weekend.  I headed to my primary Dr office Monday morning and was told I was in Afib again.  Luckily, I had hubby with me.  So we went to the ER to get fixed up.  They did an electrical cardioversion to get my heart back into normal sinus rhythm.  And, before you ask, they knocked me out for the procedure so I felt nothing.  I went for a follow up with my cardiologist on Friday and everything looks good.  Seems the steroids I got at the hospital as well as the ones I was given to take at home, caused the issue this time.  It took me a couple of days to bounce back from everything but I am back to my normal onery self.

Hubby and I did not have any days of being with Josh, last week.  Our youngest son and his wife took all the times needed to give us a little break.  It was greatly appreciated.  We go back to splitting shifts with them this week.  Those days are when I get the most of my knitting done!

Here is your chuckle for the week...............

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