Busy

Yes, I have been a busy little bee for the past 3 days.  I am so hoping I can keep up all this energy once the steroids are out of my system but, from past experiences, I know that probably will not be true.

Anyway, I am so proud of myself.  I managed to get 6 loads of laundry done yesterday.  That included folding them and putting everything away.  I don't want you to think we always have that many dirty clothes.  Nope, that included all the bedding from when, my brother came to town and some special care articles of clothing that had to be washed separately from other items.  It felt good to see a totally empty hamper yesterday.

All the fruits and veggies got cleaned and either frozen or cooked.  Today I will be working on getting the kale chips made.  They are such a good healthy snack.

There was a loaf of banana bread made too.  This time, we are keeping the bread.  I even put chopped walnuts in it.  That is the way hubby likes his bread.  I prefer it to be plain but....I really don't eat it too often.

I did get some good knitting time in too.  I am almost ready to pick up square #4 and get it caught up to square #3.  It is still going pretty quickly at this point.  The next turn of the square is when it slows down.  I will be working with about 70 - 80 stitches on each side of the square and that takes a lot more time.  The last round is the slowest as it is up to 90 stitches on all 4 sides.  I really think I will have the squares done before daughter's birthday. Not sure I will have it all put together though and with the edging.  Oh well.  Christmas is coming too.

Today, hubby is mopping the floors for me.  He does all the heavy work and I do the lighter stuff.  What a great guy.  

I will be visiting my mom this afternoon.  Hubby has bible study class tonight which is when I will watch my shows on TV that he doesn't care for.  I can knit during that time too.  WOOHOO.

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

Week 12

 

Good morning to all.  I am wearing a smile today because.....................our temperatures for this week are all supposed to be below 100F!  Ok, so there are 2 days of 99, but that is still below 100.  Our night time lows are in the lower 70s until the end of the week when they will dip into the 60's.  I know this means the end of swimming season, but it opens up the window for me to enjoy outside time in the early morning and after sunset.  I am so stoked about this.

But that is not why you are here is it?  Let me show you what little I got done this week, thanks to a nasty virus I have.

I finished the half granny square prayer shawl.  This is using premier's Sweet Roll cake in the colorway...........birthday cake.  I used 2 full skeins for this and now I have 3 more skeins left of this colorway.  I almost did not make it with the 2 skeins.

Can you say yarn chicken?  That is all I had left when I finished the last double crochet and made my bind off.  I crocheted the last half of that row really fast so I wouldn't run out.  LOL Don't you do that too?  When you see you are getting close to running out of yarn, you figure, if you knit/crochet really fast, you will get done before the yarn runs out.  Our minds sure do think funny things sometimes, huh.

I did work on the log cabin this week, but not much.  My head feels like it has cotton in it.  Kleenex has become my new BFF.  There is so much water and hot tea inside of me, I slosh when I walk.  The steroids make me not care as much and I have gotten a TON of housework done that I had been putting off for a few week.  But that takes away from my knitting time.  So this is all I got done on the log cabin.

I finished two sides of black and started on the purple.  Once the purple is done on this one, I will pick up the other square and get it up through the purple too.  I am hoping to get some serious knitting time today. I was asked if the stitch marker marks the center of the square. No, when I start the first green square, that tells me which side is the 'right'.  Once I have joined the next color to the green, I could take out the marker, but it is so easy for me to see as I knit along and if I forget to count my rows, I know which side needs to be up when I join my next color.  Even thought the wrong side shows the joining of colors, I have been know to completely ignore what my knitting is saying.  So the marker stays in until I complete the square.  Thank you Rain, for asking!

I also need to get back into my craft room and continue working on the Christmas ornaments.  In case you missed it, here is the photo of the first "ugly sweater" ornament  I am working on.

They are not hard to do, but, take a lot of concentration and it is very time consuming to get everything sewn on and all the embroidery done.  This is 2 hours of work and the windows, door, wreath, candy canes, and roof, are just laid up there.  There are 18 pieces for this ornament alone that need embellishment and then sewn to the main part.  Lots of little pieces that could get lost if not careful.  That is why it is staying in my craft room on the crafting table.

The other thing I have been working on this week is this:

It is my lovely mirrorless camera my hubby got for me last year.  I have taken some photos with it but have always had it in auto mode.  This week, I have started learning how to use the manual mode for photography.  I am having a blast learning.  I finally learned how to shoot a photo with the background blurred.  That was done yesterday.  I am wanting to get very familiar with my camera so I can take all sorts of photos.  I love landscapes, macros of flowers, panoramic shots, stop action of sports, night time photo, etc.  I have a lot of learning to do.  I have found several bloggers that are excellent on explaining how to set the camera for what you want.  I have lots of lenses for the camera, so I will be able to do all that I have my heart set on.  I am super excited too.

Yesterday, most of my family, went to the celebration of life for my friend Bev.  It was such a nice tribute to her and we got to laugh so much remembering her.  She was quite a character.  I think my daughter summed it up best when she said "Jesus is going to have his hands full with this one".  

I am off to do laundry..............again.  I have some bananas calling my name to make them into banana bread.  There are cantaloupes to cut up and get in the fridge for snacks, blackberries to wash and freeze for smoothies and greens to wash and get prepared for tonight's dinner.  I love working in my kitchen ever since we remodeled it.  I could spend many hours in there.  Preparing healthy meals for me and my hubby is another little hobby I have undertaken in the past 6 weeks.  Our nutritionist said we are her best patients in the fact, we actually do what she suggests!  We have tried new foods, different ways of preparing things and have enjoyed the process and the results very much.

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

Just an update

I will try not to breath on all of you while getting this blog up.  I have a nasty little virus that hit me on Tuesday evening while at the ballgame.  I thought it was just allergies with that lovely post nasal stuff causing a sore throat.  Wednesday, the throat was super sore. Thursday, throat felt a bit better but a cough started.  Today, I gave up and went to the Doctor to be told, she was pretty sure it was just a virus.  She put me on steroids to help with all the drainage (which is causing the cough) but she also gave me antibiotics to start on Monday if I do not feel any better.  I have only taken half of today's dosage for the steroids and I already feel so much better.  WOOHOO!  Now, the trickiest part is trying to sleep while on these stinkers.  I have had them before and I get more energy than that little pink bunny with the drum.

The nice thing is........................I will have my house cleaned, laundry done, menus for a month planned, and groceries bought and put away, dogs bathed as well as doing all my normal chores.  And that will be done before tomorrow night!  LOL  Who needs sleep.

The down side..................They make me super hot and when I come to the end of the 6 day cycle..............I crash for about 12 hours straight.

So, not much else has been happening the last couple of days because of feeling like yuck.

Yesterday, I did spend the day with the Grand Daughter.  She had 1/2 a day of school.  I brought her to my house for a nice lunch after which we went to go and see my mom (her great grandma).  We stayed there for a couple of hours and then headed off to Hobby Lobby for a little feel good shopping.  Then we met up with Grandpa for a nice dinner of wings.  After we left him, we headed to her house where she finished her home work, got a birthday present boxed up and wrapped for her bff, played a name that tune game and just enjoyed each other's company for a couple of hours before mommy got home.  (Daddy was at school)

Hubby and I are going to head to the veggie/fruit store in a few minutes to get some needed items for our lunches and dinners.  I love going there.  I just pray I don't have a coughing attack while in the store.  That is so embarrassing.  I might even pick up some lovely flowers to put on my table.  The last bunches have lasted almost 2 weeks each.  That is pretty good.

Just so you all know............................I AM SO DONE WITH SUMMER!!!!!!!!!  Today is our first day below 100 in forever.  Granted, it is still in the 90's but I will take it.  I want to be able to step outside in the morning and feel a chill in the air.  I want to be able to spend my mornings outside with a nice cup of tea, reading a book or working on my latest yarn project, listening to the birds chirping and the kids laughing and talking on their way to school.  I don't ask for too much, do I?

Tomorrow we are going to the celebration of life for my dear friend who we lost a couple of weeks ago.  It will be strange, walking into her house without her hollering at us to let us know where she is and to just come on in.  There won't be that hug and kiss before we leave letting us know how much she enjoyed our time together.  There won't be a puzzle on the table for us to try and put a few pieces in.  It will be different or should I say the new normal from now on.  We will still go over there to visit her husband.  It is through him that we got to know his wife.  He and my hubby used to work together.  We were so blessed to have known her.  She will stay in our hearts and minds forever.

That is about all for today.  

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

Busy

I have been keeping very busy the past two days.  Remember all those towels I needed to get washed and put away?  I got 2 loads done on Monday night and then did another 3 loads on Tuesday.  That did include our personal towels as well as the cleaning clothes we used on Tuesday while cleaning the house a bit.  I don't know if we will be able to swim anymore this year.  Our temps are finally dropping below 100 during the day which means our night time temps will be below 80 and that is when the water starts to cool off quickly.  

Yesterday, after we cleaned up our kitchen and 3 bathrooms, I polished our dining room table as it was really nasty from all the activity it saw the past week.  I then cleaned our sliding glass doors that leads into our Arizona room.  What a difference that made.  There is lots of sunshine pouring into my dining room now.  I still need to clean the windows on the french doors that lead to the pool.  They are quite water spotted and I learned, those water spots need to be cleaned before the sun bakes them into the glass.  That is on my to do list for later tonight as it is still a bit warm out there and the window cleaning solution will dry before I have a chance to wipe it off.

Last night, hubby and I went to the baseball game.  We got to sit in a suite again.  That is so nice to be able to just enjoy the game without having to sit next to some person that has a mouth of a truck driver and the manners of a wild bull.  We lost the game but hubby and I still had a great time.

Do you also remember I talked about working squares 3 and 4 concurrently?

They are both up to the same part of the pattern.  I know it is psychological, but I do feel they are working up faster this way.  It makes me happy and that is the main thing, huh.

This morning I went to Mass as my Grand was the cantor for the Psalm today.  It was her first cantoring this school year.  She did quite well.  I am so proud of all my Grands.  They all have some amazing talents. 

After Mass, hubby and I went to his nutritionist appointment.  I can tell we have gotten just about all there is as far as info for us. I only have 4 sentences of notes this time.  Normally, I had at least a page full of notes. Now it is just putting it into practice.  We got a reprieve too..........................we do not go back for a month.  That actually gives me more time to try and implement what we have learned into our daily diet.  My bread machine is working on another loaf of spelt bread even as I sit here typing away.  Yup, I think I have the bread thing down.  Now to just get all those veggies, dark leafy greens, fruit, healthy snacks, exercise, lean proteins, non gmo, and organic items to keep showing up in our daily lives.  It sounds really hard, but I am hoping by the end of our month away from her, it will become a HABIT.

After we got home from that, we had lunch and then I high tailed it into my craftroom.  I had some Christmas ornaments that were calling my name.  I needed to see how difficult they were to do.

This is all I completed after 2 hours of work.  The only parts completed are the 2 little trees, the snow and the back ground of the sweater.  I love the look of them and think they are going to be so cute but man.......................it takes quite a bit of time and it is very tedious work.  If I can work an hour a day on them I might be able to complete all 6 of them in time to mail them out for Christmas.  I will say, it made me reach waaaaaay back into my memory bank.  I had to make french knots, satin stitches, chains, straight stitches etc.  I had done all that when my mom and grandma showed me how to embroider pillow cases.  I was about 10 years old.  That is a looooooong time ago.  But, I am enjoying doing them.  It is something a little different for me to do other than yarn items.

Tomorrow is Prayer Shawl day and I am going to go this week.  After that, Grand and I are going to do lunch (she has a half day), go visit my mom, drop into Hobby Lobby for a birthday gift and then head to her house to enjoy some girl time.  I won't be home until about 10 tomorrow night.  Knitting will be going with me!

I am off to clean those french door, feed my dogs and get out some leftovers for our dinner tonight.

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

Yup, it's Monday............again

Hello again.  Seems like I always have more to talk about on Monday's after my update on Sunday.  Probably because I write my update very early on Sunday mornings.  Not to mention, this past week has been full of family and activities.  I have a few photos to share with you today.

First up:

When you live in the desert, you get visits from some very interesting critters.  This is a wall gecko.  They eat bugs and are really very harmless.  I never try and kill them when they get in the house and they always seem to find their way back out again.  My dogs don't even bother with them.  This is one of the biggest ones I have ever had in the house before.  He was quite nice about posing for the photo too.

Hubby and I took a day trip to Tucson today and on the way down and back I worked on square #3.  

This is what it looked like when we got into the car.  This is what it looked like when we got home. It takes about 100 minutes from our house to the house we went to in Tucson.  I figured my total knitting time was around 3 hours. (I snuk a little nap in there on the way home.)

That is 70 rows of garter stitch.  I did not work on it while we were visiting family in Tucson.  I did not want to appear rude since I had not seen the one family member for about 3 years.

After we got home from Tucson, I sat thinking about the fact, there is only 4 squares and I am now well under way with #3.  I was trying to think of a way to make it seem like things were moving along quicker with this square so I could get to square #4.

Why not go ahead and start on square #4 and work them concurrently like I do when I make socks?  That way, when I got tired of working with the black (It is quite depressing to do 40 rows of black at one time) I could switch to the other square that is awaiting for color to be knit.

So I started square #4 tonight right after dinner.

I am half way done with the center of the square.  I don't know if this will help or not, but it does seem to me that it might actually get done quicker this way.  I am sure it will take the same amount of time as doing them separately.................but....................I feel better about it.  I now can see a light at the end of the tunnel and it is NOT a train!

My brother left this morning too.  Since yesterday was his last day here, we had a nice family gathering in the afternoon that carried over into the evening.  We went swimming, ate ribs with some yummy side and topped it off with my homemade cheesecake for desert.  It was so much fun.  There were 9 of us in total.  That being said....................Then how could I possibly have this:

These are some of the beach towels waiting to be washed.  I already have 5 of them in the washer and I will guarantee you there are more than 4 more in this pile!  In fact, I counted them and there are 7 more in this pile.  I only had 3 beach towels left in the bucket that were not used.  This means, there are 2 more loads of towels to do just for the pool towels.  They are so heavy, I do not like to put more than 5 in the washer at a time.  Otherwise, they will take forever to dry in the dryer too.

But we all had a great time and it was fun to have the whole family together again.  It had been quite a while since we had done that.

Before my brother left, I finally got up the nerve to take a selfie with him.

I really dislike having my picture taken and even dislike selfies more.  I prefer to be behind the lens of the camera, never in front of it.  But since it had been a while since we had taken a photo of just the 2 of us, I was nice and went for it.  No, we don't really look a lot alike.  He has my mom's coloring but looks more like my dad.  I have my dad's coloring and look like my mom.  Go figure!

OK, that is all for tonight.  I need to go and change the laundry around, so I can at least get 2 loads done tonight and will finish them up tomorrow morning.

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

Week 11 Progress

Hello everyone.  I hope this finds all of you safely away from Irma, Harvey and all the wild fires out in the west US.  I have relatives in Florida that evacuated last Thursday and I am so happy they did.  When they left, Irma was scheduled to hit the east side of Florida and my relatives live on the west side.  They decided to evacuate just because they are by a river inlet and did not feel they wanted to test out how well their home would do with the winds and rains that were to hit them.  NOW........the storm is heading straight for their place or residence.  They no longer feel foolish for leaving when they did.  I am thankful they are safe in Wisconsin for the duration of the storm.

Anyway....................that is not why you have come to visit me today.  You want to know if I got anything done this week.  I am so glad you asked.  Even with my brother being in town and my dear, dear, friend, Bev passing away on Thursday morning, I was able to concentrate on my knitting and crocheting.  It actually helped with my sadness as Bev was a fellow crocheter.

First up:

The second log cabin square is completed!  I finished it on Friday evening.  I was so excited to have it done.  And this time it is done correctly!  

I immediately started on square #3.  I am going to get this blanket done and OUT OF MY HOUSE!  It is a great TV watching project.  Too bad it is a little too bulky to take out and about with me once I get passed the purple part of it.

I did work on my half granny square prayer shawl too.

I am nearing the end of the second skein of yarn.  I have extra purple and pink from the first skein that I will add to the next color section.  I hope that will make it large enough to give to the prayer shawl closet.  If not..............I have 3 more skeins LOL.

I did not go to Prayer Shawl Thursday morning as I was still composing myself after loosing my friend that morning.  Even though I knew she was fast approaching death.........it still hurt knowing I would never be able to tell her all my thoughts and dreams.

My brother is leaving tomorrow morning to head to New Mexico for a motorcycle rally and then he will head on home after that.  It was nice to have him here and my mom was so thrilled to have him come for a visit.

Hubby and I are taking a little day trip tomorrow to see our nephew and his wife.  They are being deployed next week.  One will be going to Africa and the other is headed to Turkey.  

I have another slammed packed week of activities.  Retirement is a joke.  My daughter told me it is called re-tirement because once you do it you will become re-tired from all your activities.  She got that one right!

The family is coming over this afternoon for swimming and my famous crockpot ribs.  We are going to move a TV outside so we can keep up with football today too.  This way, everyone gets a chance to see my brother before he leaves and no one has to cook or clean up other than me and I do not mind doing any of that at all.  My daughter and her husband are bringing some homemade baked beans and it is their secret recipe.  They are so wonderful and yummy!  There will also be macaroni salad and I made a couple of no bake cheesecakes per request.  I think that should be enough to fill us up and keep us happy for the rest of the day.

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

Sadness

I received a text this morning around 5:45 letting me know my friend, Bev, had passed from this life around 5 this morning.  I didn't get the message until almost 6:30 as my phone is on vibrate.

I am sad, yes.  That is to be expected.  I know.  I am shocked at how heavy my body feels, how empty my mind is, how all I can think about is my friend and all the grand times we had together.  I want to cry, but am afraid if I do, I won't stop.  So I let silent tears just fall down my face.

I was her matron of honor at her wedding to her ex husband (long story).  We celebrated Christmas eve with them for years.  I have watched her joy at the birth of her grands and great grands.  I have listened to her as she worried about her children.  She was there for me when I needed to let out my feelings and emotions about events in my life.  She never judge me and I never judged her.  We accepted each other for the way we were.

During our remodel, the dogs and I spent a week going to her house everyday.  That way the workers didn't have to worry about small critters under foot.  We worked on puzzles, watched tons of westerns and laughed at the silliest things. It was so much fun for both of us.  She was also a fellow crocheter.  It broke my heart when she had to lay down her hook because of her eye sight and then her illness.

She learned to love football and was a fierce competitor during fantasy football season.  She finally won this past year and was so proud.  We even had a party so she could receive her trophy.  It was the last party we had at her house.  

There is so much more I could say.  But for now......I am just going to cherish my memories and let my heart heal.  I am going to pick up my crocheting and think of her while sliding my hook in and out of the prayer shawl I am making.  

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