WEEK 19 (for reals this time)

 

Happy Sunday, y'all.  Last week was super busy for me, personally.  Yet, I was able to do some crafting to help with anxiety.  So, here we go................

KNITTING

I finished the dishcloth

Nothing spectacular about it other than it matches my kitchen.  

I am working on the lap throw for the prayer shawl ministry.

This one takes time to do.  I am loving the chocolate brown of this.  Although, it does make me crave a Hershey bar while working on it, LOL.

CROCHET

My long term project is moving along.....................the lego blanket

I really like working on this.  There is only one little problem.  The pattern told me how much yarn to purchase for each color but...........Seems, she only made her throw with 75 bricks while the actually pattern makes 200 bricks.  Once I go through the yarn I purchased, I will be able to better tell how much more I will be needing to purchase.  On a positive note, I have figured out a way NOT to need to weave in hundreds of ends on this.  This is also allowing me to go faster on it.  I do need to stop every 12 rows and trim ends though.  I can live with that! 

PUZZLES

The  'General Store' puzzle is completed

I am glad I chose this 500 piece puzzle to do.  It was pretty easy and quite enjoyable.  Kind of a palette cleanser.  So, that means I am now working on a 1000 piece puzzle again.

This is what it will look like when completed.  Here is what it looks like now..........

It is kind of hard to see but, at the top, there are 2 border pieces missing.  Both hubby and I have looked several times and can not find the two that go on the top of this puzzle.  It was a  brand new one too.  I will continue to put it together in hopes they just magically appear.

READING

I really tried to like 'Tom Lake'.  Just could not get into the story.  Now I am looking for something 'light' to read until my next 'on hold' book becomes available.

DIAMOND ART

Worked a bit on it this week but not enough to warrant a photo.

LEGO

Nope, nothing happened here

SEWING

Have another pair of pants to hem for Tiffany.  Maybe this week?

CROSS STITCH

It's around here somewhere LOL.  Actually, it is right beside my 'crafting chair'.  I need to be in the mood to work on those 2 projects and it has not happened in quite a while.

LIFE

Enrique went to the vet this week.  We think he may have strained or torn his CCL.  He seems to be managing it well but has a limp now.  He is on NSAIDs for the next few days.  He has had luxating patellas since he was young so we were aware this could happen.  The sad thing about it is, he is a jumper!  Trying to get him to stop jumping on and off furniture is a loosing battle.  So, of course he keeps the injury 'fresh'.  He does not show any major signs of pain at this time, other than the limp.  Especially right after he gets up from one of his many naps.

Jay and TIff's dog ended up at the emergency vet.  She is ok, just getting older and slowing down like the rest of us.

Stacie's community had a garage sale on Saturday.  Tiffany and I went over on Friday and helped her set up and priced things for her.  I was able to take some items over for her to sell too.  I have no idea what got sold of mine, but will find out when I go back over to collect the tables I loaned her to set things on.

We have had 3 lunch dates this past week with friends and family.  Those are nice as I normally do not cook a dinner on that day then.  So, my kitchen time has been minimal this past week.  I do need to get in there today and make some sourdough crackers as well as make some yummies for breakfast again.  Hubby really liked the scones, so those are on the sourdough menu too.  

Hubby and I went out for dinner last night, after Mass.  I have discovered I really like strawberry Margaritas.  This one was vey yummy.

Hubby had a regular Margarita........boring!  This is our go to spot after Mass.  The food is always excellent and it is a private owned business.

With Veteran's Day this coming Tuesday, I would like to take this time to thank all the Vets for their service to our country.  A BIG HUGE thanks to our son, Jay and his wife Tiffany for their service.  Jay spent 23 years in the Navy and Tiffany spent 20 years in the Navy.  So proud of them both! A shout out goes to my nephews Corey and Casey for their service.  Both are still active in the Air Force.  

I have a chuckle for you again this week.  I actually DID laugh out loud when I saw this one.....

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

Week 19

 

Hey there!  Nice of you to stop by.  I did not post last week since there was not much to talk about.  This week, I do have things for show and tell.

First up.........................

I completed 4 To The Point shawls.  Since this is my 'go to' pattern, I did not see a reason to photograph each one individually.  Here they are all bagged and tagged.  I took them to Mass yesterday and turned them into the Prayer Shawl ministry.  This brings my TTP shawls to #48!

So, I was sitting here yesterday, I had time to think about what should go onto my needles/hooks next.  Hubby and I had stopped at Hobby Lobby on Friday and I had purchased some a lot of yarn for specific projects.  Not to mention, I still have a plethora of the Caron Simply Soft yarn I purchased when JoAnn's went out of business.  Well, heck, let's cast on EVERYTHING!

My long term project is...............

A Lego blanket!  There are 228 rows in this pattern.  I picked this one because there is no sewing blocks together.  However, there are hundreds of ends to weave in throughout.  I did find if I weave them end at the end of each row, it is not as over whelming.  I have completed 2 rows, so far.  This is going to be a gift to my son.  He is a Lego lover and even has a Lego room in his house.  The walls are painted Lego colors too.

The semi-long project is.................................

A lap throw for the Prayer Shawl Ministry.  This pattern was given to my by DIL's mom (grammie). It is a perfect TV viewing project and will use 3 skeins of my Caron yarn.  

There is short time projects too.................

A dishcloth.  Well actually, I bought enough Crafter Secret Cotton yarn for SEVERAL dishcloths. Everytime I make this cloth pattern, I think of my mom.  This was her favorite pattern and the one she would make and gift to others.  I am excited about the colors on this as they go with my kitchen.

There are other things on the go for me too.

This puzzle will be completed pretty soon.  It is only 500 pieces and is coming together rather quickly.

This is my current Diamond Art I am working on. I bought this way back in July (prime days) but it now has a much deeper meaning for me.  I can only work on it for a small amount of time as it does cause me a bit of melancholy.  

I did a thing a couple of weeks ago.....................

This is my newest Tattoo in honor of Josh.  A dear friend of ours had designed the cross with ribbon and Josh had it tattooed on his forearm.  I asked her to reduce it in size as I wanted it on my leg with the other memorial tattoos. The ribbon is gray in honor of brain cancer.  The other tattoos are..........Bunny heart/mom, Anchor cross/ dad, motorcycle with Ichthus/ brother.

I told the rest of my family they all need to stay healthy and alive as I am running out of room on this leg. 

As for the rest of life...............things are getting back to normal.........what ever that is.  Hubby is very busy with teaching and taking Theology classes.  I am staying busy with crafts, family and friends.  I got to spend some time with Thor (Josie's dog)and her kitties, this week as the girls went to Arkansas to have a burial for Josh and his biological father in Bella Vista.  They should be back home tomorrow.  

I found a cute chuckle that was perfect for Halloween, All Saints day and All Souls day.......

 

WEEK 17?

 Hello.  Remember me?  Thought I would stop to let y'all know I am still here and doing well.  The past month has had it's ups and downs but, hubby and I have finally gotten our footing back under us.  There has been quite a bit of crafting done.  Take a look.

Another baby hat was completed.  I was able to send 5 baby hats home with my niece.  Her sister (my other niece) works in a NICU in Las Vegas.  This was one of the upsides of having family in town for Josh's funeral.  No postage required to send these off.

My RCR socks were completed.  This is Diversity Yarn and has a fantastic elasticity to the yarn.  Probably my favorite non-wool sock yarn.

Hubby's RCR socks also got completed.  The yarn is from Leading Men Fibers.  It is Show stopper and I really like how well this wool wears.

The lapghan was completed today!  This will go to the cancer ministry at our parish to be sent to someone in need of prayers and comfort.  Made with Caron Simply Soft yarn.  

The English Cottage Diamond Art is also completed.  The colors in this make me smile.

One dishcloth completed.  This was really needed as all my other projects, I had at the time, seemed to be taking forever.  It was nice to do a quick and easy project.

This puzzle!!!!!!!!  It was a real tough one.  For starters, the picture on the box was not what was inside.  My friend had printed off a photo of what the puzzle should look like but it was not very large so details were not easy to see.

Baking took place quite a bit over the past month.  These are my sourdough chocolate chip scones.  I love making scones for our breakfast.  I have some over ripe bananas that will be becoming scones tomorrow morning.

We even had weather here!  We got hit with the tail end of Priscilla.  Our home got a total of 5 inches of rain in 4 days!  Not bad for a place where the yearly rainfall is 9 inches total.  With the rain, our weather also cooled off.  We now have lovely nighttime temperatures in the low 60's with daytime highs in the mid 80's. My favorite time of year.

There is a new puzzle in the works as well as a new Diamond Art being worked.  I am starting a 'To the Point' shawl today.  It will be pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I have another pair of pants to hem up for Tiffany.  As soon as she comes over so I can pin them, they will get taken care of. I hemmed one other pair of her pants last week.  Yes!  My sewing machine got used finally.

In personal news............We are doing ok.  The funeral was very nice and there were over 200 people there.  The day after the funeral we hosted an open house for friends and family.  We had 25 people in the house and I ran out of seating!  It was nice to have everyone together but by the time the weekend was over, I was wiped out.  I am very glad I took time away from many activities for the past month. Even though we knew we were going to loose him, it was still knowing it was final and we would never see or hear him again.  The pain pierced me to my core. I am now able to talk about him and think of him without tears. (most of the time)

Stacie and Josie are doing well also.  Stacie is taking extended leave from work to take care of all those last minute details you don't think/know about.  Josie is taking a semester off from college also to get refocused.  She will go back but needed this time to just 'be'.

Joe and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary yesterday.  Where did the time go?  Seriously, It really does not feel like that long.  We didn't do anything for our special day.  We went to Mass and then attended our church's yearly Fall Fiesta.

We were so young!  I was 22 and he was 26.  It was a second marriage for both of us.  He brought 2 children into the marriage and I brought 1.  After 2 years we had another child together.  Now we have 7 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren!  We are truly blessed!

Now for your chuckle for the week...........After all, you got this far and deserve a reward.

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

Life Update And A Thank You

 Hey guys.  Just dropping in to say 'hello'.

This past week has been a doozy.  The only thing I have done craft wise is make 4 quick and easy baby hats.  They are on their way to the NICU my niece works at in Las Vegas.

Here is a quick run down of my week.

Monday - Called the vet to make Enrique an appointment for anal gland expression.  Put MANY blankets away that had been removed from their cedar chest (Josie needed the chest)  so I could make the bed they were laying on.  Cleaned the guest bathroom's bathtub.  Washed two loads of laundry. Helped with Funeral arrangements.

Tuesday - Got Enrique to the vet and to the groomers (groomer for nail trim).  Took the evening off and went to a baseball game with Jay and Tiffany. (we won!)

Wednesday - Finally folded all the laundry I had done and put it away.  Had lunch with Josh's best friend along with Stacie and Josie.  Jay and Tiff came by for a visit to make sure we were doing ok.

Thursday - Spend 7 hours shopping for appropriate clothing for my son, Josh's, funeral. Yes, I know I go to Mass weekly, but we attend the Saturday evening Mass and it is a bit more 'relaxed' than Sunday Mass.  I did find what I was looking for at Dillard's and it was 75% off!  I got my steps in for the day. My feet and legs were done by the time I got home.

Friday - Relatives started arriving. So did the worse rain storm in over 7 years came.  Our airport actually shut down for over 5 hours because of the severity.  We saw horizontal rain coming down.  Our home received over 2 inches of rain in less than 2 hours.  Flash flooding was every where and there was loss of life as well as a lot of property damage.  Two of our guests were not able to come into town because of flight cancelations.  Two other parties were caught in this state wide storm while driving in for the funeral.  It was a very nerve wracking time for me.  Everyone arrived safely thought.  Thank God!

Saturday - We had the Funeral Mass.  There were around 200 people there!  Josh had touched so many people.  The love.............I can not even describe that feeling.  After the Mass about 100 of us headed to his favorite sports restaurant.  Joe and I finally headed home around 5pm.  I was emotionally spent, my eyes were swollen from crying yet my heart was full with seeing how many lives Josh had touched.

Sunday - For some reason I thought it would be an excellent idea to host an open house for family and very close friends.  Our son, Jay, smoked an 16 pound brisket, I made a 7.5 pound pork loin into green chili, our friends Jenny and Tim brought fruit, cheese and cookies, our daughter made Spanish rice, Joe's sister brought potato and macaroni salads.  By the time it was over, everything, other than the green chili were GONE!  We had 25 people in my humble abode.  I ran out of places for people to sit!  Yet, it was fantastic.  We opened the doors at noon and the last person left around 7pm.  By the time Joe and I got it all cleaned up and the house put back together it was 9pm.  Exhausted again but, my heart was once again filled with all the love poured out to us.

Monday - Josh was interred at our Catholic Cemetery.  About a dozen of us came to the service for the interment.  Afterwards, Joe and I took everyone out for a lunch at our favorite hangout.  By 3pm everyone had left.  Joe and I were finally alone for the first time in 4 days.  Neither of us were up to doing anything other than sitting and watching TV for the evening.

Today I am going to catch up on laundry,  The baskets are over flowing!  I have thank you cards to write also.  There will be some sourdough baking happening as my sourdough starter has been in its little fridge for several weeks and needs a bit of love.  I have plants to figure out where to put them so they will live.  There is green chili that needs to be frozen for future use.A busy day to keep my mind busy.

I do believe I am going to take a bit of a break from blogging in YOP for a while.  The last 2 years have taken a toll on me and I need some time to find me again.  I also want to be 100% available to my immediate family.  We are all suffering in this loss and need each other as we navigate our 'new' normal.

A huge thank you to all of you who have offered prayers and messages of encouragement. This crafting/blogging community is awesome.  I offer much love back to all of you too.

Until Next Time.....................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!! Now go and hug someone near and dear to you!

WEEK 13

 

Here it is, time for another weekly update.  I am surprised I got as much crafting done as I did.  It was a very hectic week preparing for Josh's upcoming Memorial Mass.  We thought we had everything 'done' but discovered we had only scratched the surface of what we needed to do.  So, let's look at what happened in the craft department.

KNITTING

The socks did get a bit of love this week.

I didn't say it was a lot of love LOL.  That is because I cast on a new project.

I have named this pattern 'Grammies Blanket".  Josh's MIL does this pattern for all her baby blankets.  She gave me her instructions and I customized it to be made with worsted yarn and for it to be a lapghan for our cancer ministry.  It is a very simple pattern.

I will admit, I have had a bit of an issue concentrating this week.  There was one point on this I knit and tinked back 2 rows multiple times.  Last night I found another 2 row mistake and had to tink back 2 rows to fix that one too.  Yet, this is still a very comforting project at the moment and gets 90% of my knitting attention.

READING

Well, if I am having a hard time concentrating on knitting, you know there is no way I could read and comprehend anything.  So, I returned 'The Secret War of Julia Child'.  That book will get borrowed again at a later date as it was quite fascinating.  There is no book on my kindle at the moment.  I am hoping to be back to reading again very soon.

DIAMOND ART

After completing the nativity scene, I had gotten another DA put together to work on.  After Josh passed, I realized I had a DA in my 'travel' bag that had been started the week he left us.  Since I was no longer going to be traveling to his house each week, I decided I would finish that one before any others.

I am in love with the colors on this one.  One of the guest rooms in my house is done in an English Cottage theme.  This will be perfect to hang in there along with other similar type of artwork.

I found this clip this morning on Facebook.  It gave me pause and then made me proud.

Nothing else got worked on this week.  This coming week will probably see even less craftwork being done.  We have friends and family arriving starting on Tuesday and most are staying until Monday.  This will keep us pretty busy.  Once everyone leaves, I am hoping to get back to some sibilance of normal.  The memorial mass is on Saturday and the interment will be at a later date and be private for the family.

My friend, Rebecca, sent me this photo this week.  We were facilitating a retreat at church.  I was the chef and she was the leader.  Josh decided it would be fun to photo bomb us.  He was always the jokester.  It made my heart happy to see this.

To make your hearts happy, I leave you with this weekly chuckle:

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

WEEK 12

 

A day late but at least I got this up.

The socks have had the heel done and I am now on the foot for both socks.  They are getting there, slowly, but getting there.

The Nativity scene is completed and ready to be framed, once I find one that is the correct size.  A new diamond art project has been started but no photo yet.

The best 'WIP' I ever made is completed.  Josh passed away last night at the age of 51.  He was the child that made me a mother.  His cancer battle was brave and he fought like hell to get more time to spend with his family.   We were blessed to have the almost 2 years we did had with him, after his diagnosis.  His dieing was quick.  He stopped eating and drinking Friday evening, Saturday he was unresponsive and by Sunday night he was gone.  He was able to pass at home, which had been his wish.  We had all taken our turns in saying goodbye in the last 24 hours of his life.  We have a very strong faith and truly believe he is now in the loving hands of Jesus Christ.  His humor is going to be sorely missed.  He had the best 'dad' jokes.  His awesome hugs were legend.  But his laugh..........a deep belly laugh was his calling card.  Mom loves you son!

Thanks to all of you who have sent prayers and thoughts our way for the past two years. 

But, I can not close without lightening the mood a bit.

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

WEEK 10

 

I keep thinking the last of our HOT weather is on the way out of here.  We had several days below 100F which gave me some false hope.  I don't know why I keep thinking summer is almost over here.  After living here for almost 40 years you would think I would realize summer doesn't end here until after Halloween. *sigh*  But, I will take any day under 100F and rejoice.

Another productive week for me!

KNITTING

Both of Sock #1 have been completed.

As promised, both of sock #2 has been cast on.  

CROCHET

Move along to next category

CROSS STITCH

Oops, not this category

DIAMOND ART

Still working on this nativity scene.  The bottom section of the last section is completed.  The top section is about 1/4 of the way done.  I will be super happy when this is done.  I have so many more to work on.

I also started another one that travels with me.  I will take a photo of it next week.  I only work on it when I am at Josh's house.

LEGO

Still stalled

PUZZLE

This is slow going.  I have been tempted to just take it and put it back into the box.  But, I am no quitter.  I only allow myself 1 hour a day on this.  Otherwise, I get really frustrated.

SEWING

It will happen this week.  Promise!

READING

I started and finished another book.  "Snow on the Tulips".  It was very good.  Takes place during WWII in the Netherlands.  I am now reading 'Hidden Blessings'.  So far, it has been good.  I am about half way through it.

ACQUISITIONS

Here is my planner/journal for 2026.  The past several years I have used the Hobonichi Techno Weeks planner for my day to day planning and then another lined book for my daily journal.  I am not sure this book will work for both yet.  I do like the layout for the weekly planning as well as yearly, monthly and many other aspects of it.  I got it off Amazon.  I was going to get another Hobonichi until I saw how much they had gone up in price this year.  Even if I need to purchase another book to journal my daily thoughts, it will be cheaper than getting the Hobonichi.  Time will tell.  This planner is undated which will be something new for me to fill in.  I have always stayed away from undated.  Probably because it seems like a lot of work to date everything and get it set up.  If I do it one month at a time, it shouldn't be so overwhelming.  

LIFE

Everything is status quo.  Josh remains the same as last week.  Our schedule has started to change thanks to hubby's classes he attends and ones he teaches.  This gives me a bit more down time.

Today we went to our youngest son's home for the first Sunday of NFL football.  I made Belgium waffles and bacon for breakfast.  They made pulled pork for lunch.  It was a nice day spent together.

The chuckle this week is soooo true.  The only difference for me is....when I am cooking in the kitchen, Enrique is ALWAYS on my heels.  I wish I had thought of doing this HEEHEE

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