Happy Birthday Piper!

Just popping in to say hi and show you a few pictures of Piper.

We've had a doozy of a storm. Actually three storms this weekend.  Rain, rain and more rain along with high winds here in Portland, OR.  We persevered and had a birthday party Saturday night and lots if people drove through the nastiness to see Piper and wish her a Happy 1st Birthday.  Brad & Mandy have some great friends who celebrated with us.

Grandpa flies home today and then will fly back on Friday after work.  I'll get to stay & play with Piper.

This is Piper's Uncle Bill who flew in from Nebraska to celebrate with her.

Have a wonderful week my friends!  I sure intend to.  :-)

Blessings,

Betsy

It's almost Piper time!

Happy Thursday to all of you, my friends in blogland!


Well we have had some interesting weather here in the Inland Northwest. One day we were swimming in the lake, two days later the furnace was in in the camper! This is what the sky looked like outside our house last night, looking toward Mt. Spokane.

Icky isn't it?

Now this is this morning.

Still a bit hazy, but since I'm looking northeast here and our weather typically comes from the southwest, which is blue, blue sky right now, I'm encouraged that it will be a prettier day today.

I do have lots to get done. I need to go to the grocery store so Hubby will have something to eat next week when he comes home. One last load of laundry. Clean the house. Pack. I know I'm forgetting something important here. Oh well.

Can you believe September is almost over? By the time we return from Portland most of our friends will have winterized their campers at the lake. We're hoping for another week or two, but since snow is already falling in parts of Northern Idaho and Montana, we're just hoping the pipes don't freeze before we get back to tuck things away for the winter. Boo.

Here is my mitten count for the week. Nine pair. Not as good as last week, but still, it's progress. Next week I'm afraid will be a big fat zero!

Tomorrow we're off to see Miss Piper for her first birthday! Is it possible that she's one already? Her other grandparents are flying into Portland today from Omaha, NE. Hubby is taking Friday and Monday off of work and we'll be on our way bright and early tomorrow. I've already face-timed with the little princess this morning and she gave Grandma three, count them! Three i-pad kisses. I can't wait to get the real thing. :-) We truly love Brad's parents too and are looking forward to visiting with them. They will return home next Wednesday and I'm staying through next weekend.

Next Friday is lunch with Teresa, Taci and Gracie! Oh my! I'm looking forward to seeing all three of these lovely ladies again. I truly enjoy our times together and hope they look forward to it as much as I do. I've said it before, I wish I lived closer to them all so we could see each other more often.

I stopped at Hobby Lobby yesterday because I had a 40% off coupon and you just can't waste that can you? Look what I bought. It was already 40% off so I got to use my coupon for a skein of yarn! Double bonus!

I just love angels so it was perfect for me and only a little over $6.

I'll leave you with a picture of my "free" flowers that were left in my driveway this summer. I planted them in my raised bed and they seem to thrive there.

And now I'm off to the grocery store before it gets busy.

I'll see you all again soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

It's a cool morning!

Hello My Friends!

We've had a couple of chilly mornings here in the Inland Northwest and I'm afraid it means fall is on it's way. Well, actually I think it officially arrives on Sunday, although I'm hoping for a few more nice weeks before closing up the trailer for the winter. But first I'll be off to Portland next week for little Miss Piper's first birthday! Can you believe it's been a year? I'm staying in Portland to keep her home from daycare for a week to play with Grandma, so I won't be home until the first weekend in October. I'm also having lunch with Gracie, Taci and Teresa! Yippee! Hubby is driving with me and flying home so he can work all week and then flying back to Portland for the next weekend before we drive home. I love having him with me on the long drives. It's so much more fun with him along, (and the extra knitting time is nice too, with no driving!)

Well, the mittens are coming right along with 10 pair being finished this week.

That brings the grand total to 27 pairs of mittens so far! Not too bad but I'm afraid 100 pair by the end of October was a little ambitious! I know that even if I don't have 100 pair by then, I can keep knitting and give them to the school as I finish them. I'm sure the need for them will go on all winter.

On top of that, the nurse who took care of me when I had my nuclear treadmill called and asked if I would make her 20 dishcloths for gifts! She isn't in a huge hurry, so that has become my project that I keep in my purse. I have 2 1/2 cloths done so far. The mittens use all kinds of little things, stitch markers, a ruler, stitch holders, scissors, tapestry needle and two different sizes of knitting needles so there is a lot to carry around and take a chance of losing. I already lost my little pair of school scissors that have traveled a lot with me. They only cost $.99, but they pass all the airline regulations. They've been to Japan twice, England, and France. Now they're gone. I had them last week when I had my doctors appointment, but not when I got home. I ran lots of errands so who knows where they are now! Oh, well! It was time to replace them, they were getting dull with use, but I'm a sentimental gal! :-) Anyway, the dishcloths are easier to tote around without losing pieces.

I will keep knitting mittens as my main project, but with losing a week playing with Piper it may set me behind a bit. I'm not giving up playing with her though ladies. Grandma just can't do that!

Just look at that face. I'll have my arms around her in exactly 1 week and 1 day! She's taking a few steps on her own too! Grandma got to see them when I was face-timing with them earlier this week. I love facetime. It makes it so much easier when I see her. She remembers exactly who I am.

I also did a little decorating for the season when I came home from the lake yesterday. I don't do much anymore, but a few things to put me into the fall mood.

I crocheted the leaf garland this summer. I'm not super happy with the way it turned out, but it's okay. The bowl on the coffee table is actually my cake stand and cover, turned upside down. I find it works well for decorating too, since I don't bake many cakes now that the kids are gone.

I've been running errands all morning long. I also trimmed all of the bushes in the backyard. Last night Hubby mowed while I power washed the house and windows. We had a terrible storm go through on Sunday that left a layer of dirt on everything. In light of what Colorado and now Mexico is going through though, I'm not complaining. Anyway, I also ran errands this morning and have laundry going. Now I need to make zucchini brownies for Bible study tonight and also make a couple of batches of laundry detergent. I keep Mandy supplied in it too so I want to take her more next week. My acupuncturist also tried my "recipe" and loves it too. She's a jogger and can't believe how it gets the sweaty odors out of clothing.

Okay, my friends. I'm off to get more work done. Have a lovely day and I'll be back soon. Hopefully with more mittens.

Blessings,
Betsy

More Yarny Goodness

Hello friends:

Just popping in for a quick minute to show you what I was able to get with Sherri's wonderful donation for yarn for the mitten project.

Michaels has another sale going on this week so I was really able to score a hit. Thank you Sherri!

I also have completed three more pair of mittens since my last post. Yesterday was my annual physical and I finished one pair while waiting over 2 hours for my appointment! I hadn't expected to be there so long waiting to be seen, so I actually ran out of yarn. That almost never happens to me. When waiting somewhere I always knit or crochet. Oh well. Waiting for blood test results but everything else, (except my weight) looks good. My BP was only 106/62. That made me happy. :-)

I had my acupuncture appt. in the afternoon. She wasn't too happy with the state of my feet. They're full of knots and they ache terribly bad. I haven't been to see her since February so it's my own fault. She left the needles in for over an hour - almost 40 of them! My feet felt wonderful after that, but I'm going back tomorrow for another treatment. Then I think I should be able to just go once a month or so to keep the hot flashes and painful feet away. Goodness! A year ago you would never have told me I would be going to have acupuncture done. All those needles!!!! Ladies, I'm here to tell you that it works. I went to three conventional foot doctors who just wanted to move ALL of the bones in both of my feet. Finally, the last one suggested I try this before he operated. Now, I don't like needles much at all but it doesn't even hurt. I fall asleep almost every time and I'm the person who NEVER sleeps during the day, even when sick. It's so relaxing.

So, instead of going to the lake tomorrow morning I'll go in the afternoon. This has been an absolutely gorgeous week of temperatures in the 90's and blue, blue sky and I'm missing it all by being home! Poor me. HA!

Okay, I'm off to give Miss Chloe a bath. She is a lab that's afraid of water, so I always feel bad when I give her a bath. Her big brown eyes just melt my heart and she looks so sad and scared. But afterwards she runs around like a puppy and smells so good!

Have a wonderful day my friends.

Blessings,
Betsy

Mittens and Flowers! Oh My!

Happy Tuesday afternoon to you all! Here I am. Back from the lake early this week because of the dreaded annual physical early tomorrow morning and then acupuncture on my feet in the afternoon. I've been neglectful of taking care of my feet and now I'm hobbling around again. I never want to leave the lake in the summer for a Dr. appt. so I haven't had a treatment since January or February. I am paying the price now though. Rather than have to drive in early, I decided to just come home and get a few things done this afternoon. I've neglected my poor house dreadfully this summer but it doesn't look too bad. Do you think that that maybe it's because we're never in it? I vacummed and mopped the camper this morning and wiped all of the woodwork down. My goodness it gets dusty in there! Now I get to do it all at home too. Fun times.

But look what I have to show you since I last posted. More mittens!

It seems that I can get about 5 pairs out of each skein of Loops & Thread yarn. The yellow is really bright isn't it? I think little children will like that happy color. I've made two sizes and on Sunday I had two children at church try them on for size. The smallest should work for most K-2 graders and the bigger ones will be good for 3-5 I think. What do you think of the pattern? Do you think children will really want to wear these?

The gentleman that plants and takes care of the HUGE garden at the lake came by our camper Sunday night and gave me a nice bouquet of flowers. He's "retiring" from the resort work and doing only the garden next year, or so he says. If I remember right, he said the same thing last fall. He's 89 years old! The garden is huge but he still works 5 days a week doing maintenance for the resort. You'll see him up in the bucket of a bulldozer trimming limbs on a 95 degree day as if it were nothing. This is his second career. He actually worked as a business man until he retired at 65 and then started the job he loves. That is his word, not mine. I hope to have half of his energy even next year. Ha! So here are some pictures of the flowers he gave me. I don't know what any of them are, but I think they're beautiful. Teresa, I'm sure you can name each and every one!

Aren't they just gorgeous? God did an amazing thing when he created the flowers didn't he? Each one so different. Look at those perfect leaves. I look at His creation and I wonder how anyone can believe it just happened out of a "big bang" in the universe.

Barry also gave me some yummy squash. I had an acorn squash for dinner last night. Hubby had a late meeting and didn't come out to the lake so I just baked the squash with a little butter and brown sugar and that was my dinner. Yum!!!!

Do you see the bumblebee? He sat on this flower for a long, long time. It's right outside of the camper and he was there at least two hours. When I checked just before bedtime, poof, he was gone.

This was this morning and I was struck by the absolute stillness of the water. My photography skills leave lots to be desired, but it was just gorgeous how everything reflected perfectly.

Thank you all for your well wishes for Hubby's hand. It was Sunday before the swelling eased and it's still red where the bee stung him. I've never seen him have a reaction like that.

Okay. I'm off to clean a bit and then knit on some more mittens. Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!

Blessings,
Betsy

Edited to add: I just checked the mail and had a lovely surprise from Sherri in Nevada. She sent a gift of money to help with the mittens too! Thank you so much Sherri! I'll try to get out tomorrow or Thursday to get more yarn and I'll post a picture as soon as I do.

Thank you so much!

Yarn!!!!

Hello Again!

I just had to pop in and show you the yarn that I bought with fellow blogger Teresa's generous gift. When I got to Michaels, their Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn was on sale so look how much I was able to snag!

The first two pictures are of smaller groups of the yarn and the third is it all together. I also had a 40% off coupon for Hobby Lobby, so I bought a skein of their "I Love This Yarn" for just over $2.00. That's it in the back on the left in the third picture. I think I got some good bargains today. Now I need to get my needles flying. Although my goal is 100 pair by the end of October, I know that if I don't get them all done by then the need will be ongoing all winter so I'll just keep plugging away at it.

It's so much fun to make things for other people. Especially when you know it's very needed by them. I want to thank all of you for your kind comments and your prayers for this project. I appreciate them all. And a special thank you to Teresa and Dayle and my friend Lori who also donated a huge box of baby wipes that Lindsay says' they use in the classroom all the time.

Could I ask you to pray for my Hubby Dennis? He got stung by a bee on Wednesday evening on the back of his hand and it's really swollen and hot. The doctor says he needs to see him this afternoon because apparently the bee's are very vicious this year and some of them are what they call "dirty bee's" if they've been around garbage and such. Then they have to give antibiotics and cortisone shots. He has been stung several times this year, (as has everyone we know, they are so bad.) I've never seen anything like this year. They're very aggressive. Hubby has NEVER had a reaction to a sting like this before. I'm praying it's an easy fix for him.

Have a lovely weekend my friends and remember to smile at someone. Maybe even give someone a hug. You'll love it too!

Blessings,
Betsy

Anniversary Fun

I hope you've all had a wonderful week like I have. Full of fun and blessings from God.

Dennis and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on Sunday, September 1. We started out the day driving from the lake into the "big city" for church. My hubby looked so handsome that I had to take a picture for you.

He didn't know I was taking his picture as he had just finished pointing out three yearling deer in the highway median. You never know when they'll turn around and jump right out in front of you, but my goodness, they are beautiful and graceful.

Sunday evening we had a sing-a-long around the campfire. Our minister and his wife who are also our great friends, (Mark & Karen), came and joined in. Larry had his guitar and Karen played the mandolin and we had a wonderful time. What a great way to celebrate an anniversary. Good friends and good music.

I was able to complete 8 pair of mittens this week. These are some of them.

Gracie's yarn was also used!

Teresa and her husband Dayle also sent a generous gift which I will be using tomorrow to purchase more yarn and maybe some school supplies. I'm going to talk to my teacher friend tonight and see what she needs. Thank you so much for your generous gifts Teresa, Dayle and Gracie. May God bless you abundantly for thinking of the littlest among us.

I'll keep knitting away on mittens just as fast as I can and will keep showing you completed pairs. You'll probably get very, very bored with my posts for awhile.

My great friend and adopted daughter, Heather, (not legally, just in love), gave birth to a little girl this morning. 7 lbs. 1 oz. of perfection. I was so honored to be one of the very first people to hold her, right after Mommy and Daddy. No name yet, but the middle name will be Rose after Fabrice's, (Daddy) mother who passed away a few months ago. Hubby had the honor of baptizing both Heather & Fabrice and performing their marriage ceremony too. They had twin boys a year ago last May and little Tyler was stillborn. Julian is doing very well and quite a bundle of energy. We have been praying for this new little one, that everything would go well and she would be healthy. So far everything looks good. Praise the Lord!!!!

Their love story is right of a storybook. They were pen-pals in Heather's 8th grade French class. They kept in touch all these years and she went to France to meet him, he came to visit her. Back and forth they went and some 15 years or so later, they were married! Isn't that a wonderful story?

The weather has turned dreary and rainy today. It's supposed to stay this way for a few days and sunshine is predicted for next week. We had such a wonderfully peaceful time at the lake with Hubby on vacation until today. We were the only people at the resort yesterday besides the staff. What a change from the holiday weekend! It was SO QUIET! We loved it. We read and I knitted. Last night we watched videos on T.V. when the rain started. I love the sound of rain on the camper roof. This morning I had my tea, a book and the raindrops pitter-pattering. So nice.

I'm glad you have all visited me today. May you have peaceful hearts and lives full of joy that only the Lord can provide.

Blessings,

Betsy

Edited to add-I was asked about the flowers in the bowl on my kitchen table in the last post about Gracie & Carolyn's visit. I'm almost embarrassed to tell you that I bought a 99 cent stem of silk flowers and pulled the roses off of the stem and laid them in the bowl with the plastic thingy's on the bottom! I wanted something short that we could see over to visit when I have people over and that works well. Sorry it's not something more crafty or dramatic. Just cheapo silk flowers, ripped off of their stem and put into a bowl!!!