Happy Day After Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. I took two days away from the computer. Wednesday was spent cooking and yesterday was with family. It was wonderful.

The actual meal was at Brad and Mandy's home. Brad's parents, siblings and families, my sister, her daughter and husband and another niece and her boyfriend were all there. It was a houseful for sure and a wonderful time. Everyone contributed toward the meal. We took the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy and deviled eggs. I forgot the cranberries in the refrigerator at home but there was so much food we didn't miss it at all. 

Dennis was at the food bank at the Open Door Mission on Wednesday. It's his normal Wednesday volunteering there, but because it was the day before Thanksgiving, the news stations were there filming. We started getting texts, emails and phone calls telling us that he was on the news. A friend took this photo on her TV and sent it to us. Not the most flattering pose, as he was talking to the gentleman and his mouth was open, but it's proof he was there. :-) That's Dennis on the left and his cousin, Curt, in the back on the right with the bag in his hand. They were there almost ten hours on Wednesday after 8 hours on Tuesday. He was exhausted, but he'll be back next Tuesday.

We had a wonderful time yesterday and ate too much as usual. Today has been spent at home. I put away all of the fall decor and set out my snowmen. I'm not going to decorate for actual Christmas since we'll be gone most of December. The snowmen can stay out for January too, so it will be done when we get home.

Tonight and tomorrow we're in a Winter Storm Warning with a possible eight inches of snow. The forecast has changed from 1-2 inches to 2-4 inches and now 6-8! As usual, the weather people are covering all of their bases. It went from the 60's to the teens in a matter of a few days. It's that damp cold outside now that just permeates your bones.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday if you celebrated yesterday and are looking forward to the coming festivities during December. We're anticipating some events that will be new to us when we arrive in London. At least there shouldn't be as much snow as there is here! I'll leave you with my favorite Bible verse. I'm patiently awaiting the return of my Lord and Saviour. 

Blessings and hugs,

Betsy

It's Getting Colder...

 It's less than a week until Thanksgiving here in the US and it's finally feeling like it here in Nebraska. The nights are getting colder and our furnace even came on yesterday. My orchid doesn't seem to care as you can see in the photo below. It has quite a few new buds on it which makes me very happy. I used to kill orchids immediately on getting one, but this one has bloomed over and over again.

I made overnight cinnamon rolls Sunday night. They don't look like much here but they were SO yummy. Super easy using frozen dinner rolls. You just pour them into a bundt pan, mix cinnamon, brown sugar and nuts together and sprinkle on top, then pour melted butter over them. Put them into the oven overnight to rise, then bake in the morning for twenty minutes. While baking, I mixed up a glaze of powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Pour a little over rolls in pan after baking, turn onto a platter and pour the rest of the glaze on top. Oh. My. Goodness. They are so, so good. 

****** Edited to add the recipe. Sorry it's dark. I have no idea why it's so dark. I. sure hope you can read it.

I finished the last pair of Christmas gift socks in Knit Pick's Felici "Sanderson" color way. They match perfectly which is always a nice way to finish socks. Now I just have to decide who gets which pair.

I have started another prayer shawl for the University of Nebraska Medical Center. This is using the Iris Stitch and using Big Twist yarn in "Cotton Candy" color way.  I have five or six more to make ASAP now that I've finished Christmas presents. I know I won't finish them before our trip and of course I'll take socks for airplane knitting. They are small and easy to carry along.

I've gotten the suitcase out of the closet and started putting things into it as I think of what needs to go. The electrical adapters went in yesterday because I forgot those once and had to buy new ones just to be able to charge my phone. I have my Barbies that will be going to "J". I've had them since I was 8 or 9 years old so they are true antiques. :-) Piper played with them but didn't want them anymore. I'm also taking wrapping paper and tape since I don't dare wrap Christmas gifts before traveling. TSA will just unwrap them all.

Alex told us a few days ago to bring our "welly's, (boots), and warm clothes because he's made reservations in the Cotswalds for a few days. That will be a lot of fun. He is in Japan right now for business and will be back in London just before we arrive. We got a video on the family chat today of "J" asking her oldest cousin Kyleigh to come with us and "bring The Piper". We cracked up at "The Piper". She loves Piper very much but has never met Kyleigh. I sure wish we could take them with us too, but Kyleigh is in her 3rd year at University in Bozeman, MT and "The Piper" will be in school too. :-) Our daughter-in-love sent us a video this morning of the car windows completely frozen over in London this morning when she was taking "J" to school. Yikes! It hasn't been that cold here yet.

We're enjoying getting ready for Thanksgiving. Dennis did a Costco run this morning. We're taking the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy and cranberries to Mandy & Brad's. His family will also be there along with my sister, niece and nephew. They will all bring other side dishes and desserts and Brad is making ribs on the grill. I know we'll have a wonderful time. How are you all doing in your preparations and what are your holiday plans?

Take care my friends. I hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving if you're here in the US.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

 It's a beautiful day! Stunning! Gorgeous! Unbelievable for the middle of November. It's 66F and pure blue sky. No jackets needed. The only thing not fun about today was starting it with a mammogram early this morning. :-)

On Tuesday Curt, Barb, Dennis and I went to our friend Amanda's who just had surgery. Her gutters desperately needed cleaning out before the snow falls. So the two old men of the church volunteered to do the job on her HUGE old three story house. Here is a photo of my very filthy, dirty husband out on the roof. Curt was holding the rope while Dennis dangled outside. Meanwhile Barb and I visited with Amanda. I'm glad I didn't see what was going on up on the roof or I may have had a panic attack. These two guys can get themselves into pickles for sure. Last week they spent two days replacing windows at our youth minister's house. Usually they volunteer at the mission on Tuesday and Wednesday but the drop off donation spot was closed for Veteran's Day so they did the gutters instead. Yesterday he spent 10 hours t the mission grocery center giving out food. I'm married to a great guy. I really don't know what I did to deserve this saint of a man but I'm very grateful to the Lord for blessing me with him as my husband.

I finished another pair of socks into the Christmas basket. One more to go. These are Knit Picks Felici in the "Silent Film" color way. Plain vanilla pattern of course. I think it shows off the Felici stripes best.

Now on the needles are another pair of Felici in "Sanderson" named after the sisters in the Halloween movie. Another plain vanilla pair of socks. I'm boring, I know.

A blast from the past photo that I found on my phone from when our girls, Lizzie and Zoey were puppies. Aren't they just the cutest little things? They still are and we love them so much.

As I said in the beginning, I had my mammogram and the results already arrived online. All is fine for another year. I just want it known that I do NOT enjoy that test at all. Especially since I got my pacemaker. It's very, very painful where the pacemaker is squeezed. It was not pleasant before but now is another whole level of pain.

Tonight is our annual condo meeting and tomorrow Dennis and a few other guys from here are going to repair the fence around the property to try to save several thousand dollars. Our HOA fees are going up around $100 a month next year anyway simply because of insurance. We have had no claims in over 10 years, but because of all of the natural disasters around the country, our premium is going up too. So some of the guys said, we can fix the fence to save everyone some money. He likes keeping busy too. :-)

Otherwise not a lot has been happening. I'm still trying to get things done before we leave. I'm done with Christmas cards and they're ready to go into the mail after Thanksgiving. I need to wrap gifts for the people here and finish the last pair of socks for a gift. I think I'm on track for being done but who really knows?

Take care my dear friends and enjoy your day. Hopefully it's as pretty as it is here.

Blessings and love,

Betsy