Still Rain

Well hello everyone!  Would you believe it is raining again?  Yes, I know I live in Washington and everyone believes it rains all of the time here, but they are thinking about the other side of the Cascade mountains and the Seattle area.  We live in what is called "high desert" and usually only have a rainy period in the spring and maybe a few small showers in the fall.  This year?  All bets are off.  So far we are in the 2nd rainiest October in recorded history.  I may need to buy a rowboat!

But, the trees are pretty  down the street.  I took this from the truck window on Monday because all of the trees in our yard are bare of leaves already.

We even have moss growing in our driveway!  That has NEVER happened in all of the years we've lived here.  I feel like I've moved to Portland.  But as long as it's raining, it's not snow so it's okay with me.  It makes for a cozy house.  Yesterday I baked a chicken and tonight I'm making homemade chicken pot pie with the leftovers.

I got out the 38year old Kenmore sewing machine to do some mending yesterday.  This machine has never been worked on and is a trooper.  I've made lots of clothes and quilts with it.  It was my very first Christmas gift from Dennis the first year we were married.  Very basic but it does the job well.

I started on next years mittens yesterday!  I forgot to mention in my last post that I delivered the mittens about 2 weeks ago and they were so happy to get them.  I received an envelope FULL of thank you notes in the mail yesterday and I'll share some of them with you next time.  We had a few days of below freezing temperatures and I wanted the children to have warm hands so I delivered them a bit earlier than last year.

I made two pair yesterday to go into the bag for next year!  I feel very good having made this start already.  And in my favorite color!

The SAL cross-stitch I did with Vicky (Stitchy McFloss) is done!  I absolutely had the best time working on this and it went very quickly.

Dennis hung it up for me last night.  A perfect place for it, wouldn't you say?  I think it will be left up all year and not just at Christmas as a good reminder to us that our hope is not in this life with it's troubles and trials.

My Trader Joe's $3.99 flowers after THREE WEEKS!  Can you believe how beautiful these flowers still are after 3 weeks?  Very worth every penny.  I just change the water every few days and trim the stems at the same time so they keep absorbing water.  Love them.

And here is Miss Pipers school picture.  She goes to Londontowne Christian Academy  for pre-school on Tuesday and Thursdays and they have this blue polo shirt as a uniform.  The picture was taken on her birthday!  She told her Mama that the lady was trying to get her to smile.  I would say she succeeded and made her laugh!  I love this little girl with my entire heart!  I miss her more than anyone can imagine.

So.  The trip to the coast.  It didn't happen.  Suffice it to say that I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I'm tired of not doing any fun things.  I missed seeing my sweet friends.  They were all wonderful about it, but gosh, I was so looking forward to going.  I'm having an ultrasound done on my arm on Friday because of the sting/bite that I got five weeks ago.  It's still swollen, sore and red and the doctor thinks there could be infection deep inside.  Next Monday I have a mammogram and bone density scan.  I didn't have my mammogram last year because of the recent pacemaker surgery so he is adamant I get it done ASAP.  Then the following week I'm supposed to have a mylegram, (spelling) on my back.  Whew!  Once again, I will be glad when this year is done and over and I certainly hope next year will be better. 

I want to see my girls again.  FaceTime is great, but no substitute for actual touching and little girl kisses.  I really don't mean to complain though.  So many are so much worse off than I am.  I can still knit and crochet for other people and I have family and friends who love me.  That is a GOOD thing!  Dennis and I took a drive with Chloe to the lake on Monday when it was 70 degrees and had a nice walk.  No one was there except the guys closing up and we had nice visits with all of them.  And Dennis and I had four wonderful days together.  I miss him this week, the house isn't the same with him back at work.

I hope you are all well and enjoying the changing seasons wherever you may be.

"But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love: for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble." Psalm 59:16

Blessings,

Betsy

Fall Days

It's Wednesday and another crisp fall day here in Spokane.  I keep hearing about heat waves around the country, but it's certainly not here.  Our temperatures have been lower than average for weeks and most of the leaves have fallen already around our neighborhood.

We bought a new mattress a few months ago and the queen size quilt I had made no longer fit it because the new mattresses are so deep.  A friend at church made this quilt for us, actually her Mom had 80+ tops pieced when she passed away.  Eva-Mae made the tops and then her daughter, Nancy would bind and hand quilt them.  Nancy added some fabric to make the border deeper and then hand-quilted this beautiful blanket for us.  I need to get some new pillow covers to match but isn't it nice?  I love it.  I'll take the one I made out to the trailer for our queen size bed there.

Do you see the painting of the Arc de Triomphe in the top left corner?  Dennis and I watched the artist paint this while we were in Paris a few years ago.  We bought it for the equivalent of about $10!  It cost a LOT more than that to frame it when we got home because it wasn't in U.S. measurements.  I love it though.  Lots of good memories.

This is my progress so far on the cross stitch SAL I'm doing with Vicki, (Stitchy McFloss).  Isn't it cute?  Feel free to join in.  The pattern is free on Vicki's blog and we'd love to have company in this stitching fun!

I also made three "Knitted Knockers" for a local oncology unit.  If you've never heard of them, they are given to women who are being treated for breast cancer and are much, much more comfortable than the silicone ones you get from the medical profession.  I have had two friend use ones I've made for them and they are so appreciative.  They are so soft on the scar tissue.  If you don't have a local place to donate them, there is a national group that collects them, stuffs them and mails them to women who would like them.  You can find them as a group on Ravelry or just google Knitted Knockers and you'll find the free pattern and all of the information you need regarding appropriate yarns, etc.  Everyone can make a difference even if you don't knit or crochet.  It's a non-profit group that also accepts donations to pay for stuffing materials and postage.

I started  a new pair of socks too!  I always seem to have several projects going at once don't I?

Another sock yarn leftover square in in process.

And two squares are done.  I think I'm going to like this blanket.

These are my Trader Joe's flowers two weeks after I bought them.  Isn't it amazing how nice they still look?  I just change the water every few days and they keep making my home beautiful. :-)

Friday morning we're heading to Oregon and the coast.  I'm excited to see all of the girls and Dennis is looking forward to visiting with Teresa's husband Dayle.  They really hit it off when they met last time.  I hope there is some sunshine while we're there so we can do some beach walking, but the forecast isn't looking too promising.  It will still be nice to get away and relax a bit.

I "almost" bought a new car yesterday.  My CRV was in for a recall issue and I had to use the restroom after 3 hours of waiting.  It happened to be located in the new car showroom, of course!  The man we have bought our last two cars from was there and recognized me.  He showed me the brand new CRV and I was smitten.  Hubby had already told me to buy one if I saw one I liked. He seriously did.  I have the most amazing husband.  I told the saleman I needed to talk to Dennis.  After three calls last night to Dennis, he had lowered the price almost $8000.00!  I am probably an idiot, but I called him today and said no thank you.  Dennis said I could get it, but I just have a problem spending that much money when I love the car I have.  Now I feel like I've saved lots and lots of money.  I should reward myself somehow.  Ha! Ha!  And for those of you that know we teach Financial Peace classes, we do have the money saved for a replacement car when needed.  No payments.  But I think that makes it even harder to buy.

Not much else is new since I last wrote.  I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow because my arm where I was stung 4 weeks ago is still swollen and very sore.  He wants to see it again.  Bleh!  I have packing to do for my trip.  And I'm tired of doctors. 

No new pictures of sweet Piper but she got five injections as the doctor on Monday during her well child check.  She's skinny and tall according to the national percentile.  The little one eats more than a grown man does!  Seriously!  You should see her eat.  Her Daddy is like that too though.  And her other grandma is tall and thin.  I used to be.  Would you believe I weighed 95 lbs. and was 5'10" when we were married!  True.  Some things have changed in a BIG way and not for the better!

Okay friends, I hope it's gorgeous wherever you may be and you're enjoying the change of seasons.  I'm going to do some dusting and a little cleaning before it's time to fix dinner.  I didn't get my chores done earlier because it was our annual "meet with the insurance guy" day today to review our various insurance policies. Always fun.  Not!

"The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice."  Proverbs 12:15

Seems appropriate right now.  Enough said.

Blessings,
Betsy 

Rainy Days

Hello and Happy Saturday.  It's a rainy, rainy, rainy day here.  And wind!  Oh. My. Goodness.  Yesterday was terribly windy.  The coasts of Washington and Oregon are both getting slammed by wind and rain.  The wind seems to be gone here today without much damage.  I'm hoping all of my friends in the Portland area are okay today.

This was the scene two weeks ago today.  We closed up the trailer for the season...in the rain! The process was about half done here when I took the picture.  It's always a sad time of year but hopefully next summer will be a better one for us and my health.  We would really like to spend more time here.

Dennis and I actually just got home from driving up to check for damage after yesterdays wind.  All was okay except the tarp you see  covering the chairs, etc. had to be retied. 

We even had some snow on Mt. Spokane earlier this week after the clouds cleared.  Yuck.  It's too early for this. :-)

I thought I would show you this cute necklace my sister sent me.  She is so sweet to me.  Her husband has been very sick and had to have surgery and is now going through radiation and chemo.  Could you please keep Mike in your prayers?  And yet, she still took the time to send this to me.  Gosh, she used to be mean to me when we were growing up.  She admits it too!  But now?  We are close and I love her so much.  That saying is so right that there is nothing like sisters.  We will defend each other up one side and down the other and I know that she'll always be there for me.

I started a cozy memories blanket a few months ago but didn't really like it and I ripped the entire thing out.  Then I saw this on someone's podcast.  I apologize, but I don't remember which podcast.  You basically knit 9 squares together with a border, like a 9 patch quilt.  Then I'll put them together.  This will take me a long, long time but that's okay.  It uses the little bits that are left from the ends of skeins of sock yarn after you make a pair of socks.  Anybody have any little bits of sock yarn?  I'll gladly accept them!  :-)

I made myself a hat.  And took a picture of me wearing it.  I dislike pictures of me intensely but I took one anyway for Instagram.  This hat literally took only about 2 hours or so with chunky yarn.  So fast and easy even though it looks hard with cables and everything!

The reason I made myself a hat is because we're planning a trip to the Oregon coast next weekend and I want to do some beach walking!  It will be our first time away in a long time.  Dennis has Friday and Monday off so we're getting up early and driving to Portland where we'll have lunch with Gracie, (One Saylors Log), and Taci. (TACIStudio).  Then on Saturday we're meeting Becky, (GrandmaBeckyL) in Lincoln City for lunch.  We're hoping to connect with Teresa, (Teresa Kasner) and her husband Dayle at the coast, because they're planning to be camping there at the same time.  How fun is that?  I'm just hoping the weather is better next week than it is this week.

I've begun a SAL with Vicki, (StitchyMcFloss).   It's a sweet little precious moments style cross stitch nativity scene.  We're having fun emailing and texting each other to see how the other is doing.  Please feel free to join in, we just started yesterday!  The links to the free pattern are on her blog which you can find on my sidebar. 

All of the names in the (***) are the names of the blogs of these sweet people I've mentioned.

Well, I know you've all been missing my sweet little Piper haven't you?  Her preschool has been observing special days in October and Tuesday she was supposed to dress up in her favorite sports teams uniform.  Here she is in her Nebraska Cheerleaders outfit.  I think Dennis' sister got it for her.  We hope it's not an omen of the next place they'll live.  We're rooting for Spokane at the top of our lungs.  Here other Grandparents are hoping for Omaha so we'll have to see!  Maybe we'll be retiring back to Nebraska after all!  Isn't she a doll?

And this was this morning.  She asked Mommy to take a picture of her and Polly to send to Daddy at work today.

Gosh it's a process to post a blog now.  Blogger won't let me post photos from our desktop but it also won't let me write on my iPad or iPhone.  So, for now I have to upload photos from my phone to a draft, then get on the desktop and write the post.  Kind of a pain, but at least it's working for now.  I know it had to have something to do with Apples new IOS 10 that I had to update to my phone and iPad.  Everything worked fine until I did the update and that night I couldn't write a post.  I sure hope it's a bug that they figure out soon.

"I keep my eyes always on the Lord.  With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:8

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and a wonderful week ahead.

Blessings,
Betsy

Fall

Hello, I have been trying to post this since last Tuesday.  This will be short and sweet because I'm afraid blogger will kick me out yet again before it's finished.

These photos were taken at dusk at the lake a week ago last Sunday.  Dennis and I were the only ones in the resort and had taken a walk down to the beach.  It was so quiet with only us and the geese flying south.

The last rose of the season from my rose bush. I love my little knitting bunny keeping it company.

Isn't it gorgeous

I received the most lovely gift in the  mail from Araignee (on my sidebar).  She is so generous with her homemade soaps and lotions.  I had already given a bar of soap to my best friend when I took this photo.  The smell when I opened the package was amazing.  Thank you so much!

Two more blankets to the Crisis Nursery.

And another knitted from the Granny's Favorite dishcloth pattern.  So easy and so squishy made with baby yarn.

I also finished another Random Act of Color shawl.  I am NOT happy at all with the way this blocked out but since it's for me it's not a big deal.

Okay, this post is an entire week and a half late and I've made several more things since I put these photos in a draft pos,t but I'm afraid to type much more and lose it.  I'll send this one and see if it works and then try to post again in a day or two.

I had to do an update on my iPhone an iPad and that seems to be where the issue might be.  I don't think blogger is playing well with the new update.

I hope you are all having a lovely fall/spring wherever you may be.  It was 19F on our deck when I woke up this morning.  Brrrrr.

Blessings,

Betsy