Updates

Seems the older I get the faster time gets away from me. But that is ok, I know deep down there are only 24 hours in a day.

Crafting news: I am making an angel afghan for my mother in law. She really likes angels and I found it on Annie's Attic's daily free pattern. It is fillet crochet and I really like it. I am 1/2 way done with it and am striving to get the rest done by Wednesday so I can present it to her when we go to visit them this week. I also have a prayer shawl on my prayer shawl loom. It is for my Daugher. I have been promising myself that I would do one for her and so now seemed like a good time. Of course it is on hold until the afghan is done.

I am hoping to get back into my sock knitting in the very near future. I ordered some new circular needles so I could do more than one pair of socks at a time. I love the magic loop method and it seems so easy to me once I get into the grove of counting stitches.

Family life: My Father in law is starting to go downhill pretty fast. (he has lung cancer) So my hubby and I are leaving Wednesday afternoon to go to Nevada to visit them and see what we can do to help. My MIL has asked him several times to let her call in hospice but he refuses it. So I guess our first line of business is to convince him to let them evaluate him and maybe get him on some oxygen to make it easier for him to breath. We are also planning on getting their cemetary plots taken care of while we are there. They have a Veteran's cemetary close to where they live. After that I think we can relax for a couple of weeks. My DH wants to go up to Nevada for Father's Day. I TOld him to go up on the 7th as our neice is graduating from college and that is the day of her party. I told him to take the whole week after off and just stay there with him.

In June I am going to Albuquerque to visit our Daughter and Son in law. The SIL just graduated also and they are having a congratulatory party for him. I love Albuquerque so am really looking forward to that trip too.

Not a real exciting life but a might bit stressful right now. I will fill you all in when we get back from Nevada.

Happy Mother's day to all of you Mom's!

Thought it was about time for me to update the blog. So what better way then to give you all some pictures to look at. So let me give you a bit of a rundown of what they are.

First there is my grandaughter Josie with her Auntie Jenn (my daughter). Auntie Jenn took her to the build a bear factory and of course Josie had to have a bunny. While we were waiting to get the bunny stuffed we did a little shopping to find just the right dress and shoes for the bunny. So what did Josie find? Cinderella clothes and glass slippers. So now we have Cinderbunny.

Next picture is of Josie and her Daddy (my son) as she is searching for her Easter eggies (her word not mine). Her Grammy in Seattle sent down plastic easter eggs filled with MONEY! Guess the Seattle Easter Bunny is pretty neat. Anyway since the bunny left the eggies at Grammy Linna's (Josie doesn't say Linda well yet) house, Grammy thought she had better get them packaged and sent down to Arizona ASAP! Good thing she did too.

Next we have Josie showing off her body painting that she had done at the renaissiance festival. She calls it her maritaposa. No I did not spell it wrong that is how she pronounces mariposa! Cute huh? Anyway we went to the festival on Easter Sunday (got out of cooking Easter Dinner) and it was a wonderful day. Don't get me wrong, we did not miss Easter Mass at Church. But the Easter Mass we go to was held on Saturday night and is called the Easter Vigil. (It lasts for about 3 hours but is worth every minutes) It is when we receive into the Church all the people that have been studying the Catholic Faith for a year or more. We have sessions each week during this time to help them along their journey. My DH facilitates for the adults and I cook for their retreats. So that is a VERY special Mass for us. So that freed Sunday up for us to do something special so off to the festival we went!

And the last picture is of Josie getting the tape off the eggie so she can count her George Washingtons! (She does tell her daddy that she likes Ben Franklins best though)

It was a wonderful day and I was so glad we all got to be together. Even my mom went with us for the day and she loved it too. Now I do not want any of you folks that spent your Easter shoveling snow to send me any hate mail. It is not my fault that it was 75 and sunny Easter Sunday. But I am not complaining about it either. Just remember that by June we will be 100+ degrees here and it will be just plain HOT!

On the crafting front............Great news. I have found someone that is in need or prayer shawls. We have a cancer ministry at our parish and the head of it found out I had LOTS of prayer shawls just sitting around my house. She had just given the last one she had away and was in need of more. Well, I dropped off that 33 gallon bag of shawls to her and told her more would be on the way! So I am crocheting a seraphina shawl in varigated yarn. I love this pattern as it just lays across the shoulders so nicely. I am also looming a dark purple prayer shawl for my daughter Jenn. It is really nice and airy. When she was here during Easter she saw it and was very excited about it. I also have chapel veils that I need to get sewn. I was given the material but just have not taken the time to cut them and edge them. Maybe this week while my DH is at his meetings I can get some of that done.

That is all for right now. I have lots more to tell you but will leave it for another post another day. Have a great day!

Finally pictures

I have been promising pictures for some time now. Well here you go. The first one is of a little mouse I made tonight. I found the pattern on Annie's Attic's free daily pattern today and knew I had to make one. I work with a lady who likes mice and since she is undergoing Chemo I thought I would make this for her to cheer her up.

The next 2 pictures or of the prayer shawl I am working on. It is such a nice and easy pattern and works up really pretty quickly if I could just have the time to really sit and work on it without interruption I think I would have it done in just a few days. But alas the phone rings or the dog wants a treat or hubby wants to go somewhere or (and this is the biggest reason) my grand daughter is over and we really have other "art" projects that we have to do.

A little update on my Father in Law. We were told last night that he was being released today from the hospital. We have not been able to verify that he is home yet but that is amazing. He just had major brain surgery on Monday and here it is Thursday and he is heading home.

It is late and I really want to get some more crochet time on the shawl so will close now and wish you all a crafty night!

Another update

Thank you all for your prayers! Here is the lastest on my Father in Law.

His surgery only lasted 2.5 hours! What a shock to those of us prepared for a 4-10 hour surgery. The surgeon said after he opened up the skull the tumor was well delineated (outlined) and he was able to get it right away and he could not find any other signs of tumor. Dad is being transferred out of ICU today into a regular room and could possibly be going home this week yet. He is alert and orientated totally. He is speaking and moving his arms and legs without difficulty. My husband is so pleased with the progress that he is even flying home tonight! I am so excited, he has been gone for 2 weeks and it has been too quiet around my house.

On to crafting news.

My mother has been winding my yarn stash up for me and has informed me I will never use all that yarn before I die. So I guess I need to live to be ANCIENT! I am so impressed on how nice it is starting to look in my craftroom. I actually got to use my serger the other day because I could find it!

I am working on a crocheted prayer shawl right now. It is a pattern I found on one of my group sites. I wish I could remember the ladies name that made the pattern as it is really pretty and very easy to do. My mom said it is the prettiest one she has seen me do yet!

My Daughter in Law has been crocheting too and has completed a baby blanket in "baby cloud" yarn. She loves this yarn and I don't care for it as it is so bulky and hard to work with. I did complete one baby blanket that I had started and I gave it to her. I don't know what she is going to do with all the baby blankets that are so heavy. Our coldest temp here this winter was 29 and that was just for a couple of hours. We do live in a desert and it does get really really hot here.

That is all for now. Have a great day!

Update

We were just notified this morning that my Father In Law will be having brain surgery tomorrow morning at 9am Pacific time. The procedure will take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours. My husband was suppose to come home this evening but has now decided to stay to be with his family during the surgery. I will tell you that we have been told that the chances of him making it out of surgery are 50/50. So if you would please say prayers for him and for our family we really need the Lord's strength right now to see us thru what ever is to be.

I will update you as soon as we know tomorrow.

Thank you all for your support and don't be afraid to leave me a comment. I feel kind of a lone right now as my husband has been gone for 10 days during this crisis and I just want to know that someone is reading and praying for us.

Busy life

Yes, I do have a busy life but that is no excuse for not posting here for the past 6 weeks. Let me catch you up on what is going on with this crazy life of mine.

We had a great new year here at home. We refuse to go out on New Years eve as we call it amateur night. That is when all the amateur drinkers go out on the streets and make life miserable for others. We did have friends over on New Years day which has been a tradition of ours for about 15 years. We enjoy our time with them and have a big bar b que that night and make sure everyone is full and happy. (In Arizona you can bar b que about 350 days a year because the other 14 days it is raining)LOL

My DH's father has been going thru extensive testing since they found the spot on his lung and it has not been a good time for him. They did a biopsy on one of the spots and his lung collapsed just at the end of the procedure. It took about a week for him to get back up to par after that. He was scheduled to go to San Diego for a wedge resection of the lung to determine the type of "tumor" that was there but he got to feeling kind of "poorly" and he cancelled the appointment.

A couple of weeks ago my DH got a call from his brother (a Doctor) very concerned about Dad's behavor and health. My DH flew up to Vegas to check things out only to discover his dad was having right sided weakness and was loosing mental capacities at an alarming rate. So DH got him in for a CT scan of the brain and they discovered a brain tumor that is quite large with lots of edema pushing on all parts of the brain causing the problems that he is having. They admitted him immediatly to a neurological hospital and is awaiting surgery. Hopefully this will all be over by Sunday and we will get our answers as to what is going on and what the next steps will be taken. So if any of you would feel so inclined we would appreciate all prayers at this time.

I am recovering from a wonderful cold that my grand daughter was kind enough to give me. My voice is almost gone and I am coughing a bit but I know that I will be better soon since my Grand Daughter is getting better too. Of course she has also given this to her mom and dad too. We are such a close family.

For Valentines Day I made 28 Dishclothes to pass out to my office and my husbands office. Everyone loved them although those that do not craft thought they were pot holders. Oh Well!

I am working on another prayer shawl and will probably work on that again tonight while I finally relax and watch a little mindless TV. Seems like when DH is out of town I find myself going somewhere everynight after work. So tonight I decided to just stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet here.

Oh yes, our son that moved here from Seattle in November has moved back home to Seattle! He was just not able to find any work here in the field that he specializes in. He has already had interviews since going back a week ago and he only had 2 here in the 3 months he was here. So we are hopeful that he will be employed very soon.

Once again I don't have any pictures of my crafts that I have been doing. My Bad! But on a great happy note, my mother has been coming over each day to let my dog out around lunch time. While she is here she is winding my yarn stash for me so I can get it into less space. I told her I found a yarn sale catalog in the mail and boy did I get a nasty look from her. I have 6 64 gallon tubs full of yarn right now and that is not counting the yarn that is in bags, totes, laying around in baskets etc. So I think I am on hold for yarn buying until I get some of my stash whittled down.

Have a great crafty day and I will write again as soon as we have any news on my Father in Law.

After Christmas

Howdy everyone. It is a couple of days after Christmas and I am still in the Spirit of the season. Although this will be a short post as I am doing it at the office. My computer at home has a busted processor and we had to order one and it will be 2 weeks before we get it. I really miss my computer too!

I did manage to get all the items done before Christmas that I wanted completed. All the hats and scarves were finished and sent to Chicago with time to spare. I finished my sweater for ME, all the chapel veils have been sewn and handed out to those that I had promised them to. So now I am in between projects and I am looking over my yarn stash deciding what I want to tackle next. I have so many things I want to make but I want to make sure I do something that is "warm" on my lap because in about 4 months I will not do anything that has to lay on my lap.

If any of you have a suggestion as to what to make next let me know. I am thinking of working on the afghan that is on my loom that I started 2 years ago. I still love the colors but it seems to take a lot of time to get anywhere on it. So What do you like to make during the winter months? Let me know and maybe I will take up one of the suggestions and run with it.

I hope all of you had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and hopefully my computer will be fixed the first of next year so I can put up some pictures and a really good posting!