Still Chilly...er, COLD!

Hello again from the hinterlands where the furnace is still running apace.  The temperature only climbed to 44 yesterday.  I know, I know.  I've been reading blogs.  Most of you had your AC on for awhile already.  But not here in Washington.  Here on the normally dry side of the Cascade mountains, we have run well over our normal yearly rainfall totals...as of last month!  And it poured Monday.  And it dumped buckets of rain yesterday.  All day.  And it is supposed to rain today.  So I worked on this....

and this,

and this,

and more of this,

before giving up at this,

and settling in here for the afternoon.  Knitting with my favorite podcasts and bundled up in lots of blankets to ward off the chill.

Yes, my poppets.  We're having the infamous garage sale on Friday and Saturday.  Dennis is taking Friday off so he can help carry all the big stuff from the shed in the backyard.  We have SO MUCH STUFF!  I guess that's what happens after 39 years of marriage.  All of that "stuff" you see in the garage?  You can't even tell inside the house that anything is gone!  The inside of the house looks the same.  So do the closets.  I think the void from whence all of the stuff came, was automatically filled overnight by some evil packrat who doesn't like empty spaces.  Oh well.  It's supposed to be in the low 70's both days so hopefully we'll have a nice turn-out.

And what was I knitting on yesterday you ask?  It's my Amulet shawl.  Once I got past the annoying hiccup of starting the cream section, I moved on quickly to the first lace section using the beautiful yarn I received as a prize from Knit Styles Etsy shop. 

Those beads.  Yes, they are gorgeous, but it takes forever to do a row with beads as it means stopping every 3 stitches and getting a bead, putting it on a crochet hook, looping it onto the stitch, putting the stitch back on the needle and then knitting it.  Every. Three. Stitches.  And at this point there are well over 300 stitches per round and it increases every round!  But although it's very, very slow going, I'm enjoying it immensely.  This may be my main project for awhile and that's fine with me.

I did make 2 pair of mittens which I forgot to photograph and I put a few rows on a sock, but this is my main knitterly love at the moment.  I do think something easier, needing much less concentration will be worked on during the garage sale.

Kris from the blog "Simplify," sent me this beautiful card, just because.  Don't you just love the happy flowers? Thank you Kris!

My rocking chair on the deck is waiting patiently for warmer weather for me to sit and rock, read my Bible, and drink a cup of tea in the mornings.

The grass is so green and lush from all of the rain.  That's our little flowering pear tree that we had to replace last year after the big windstorm that blew it's big brother down onto the fence.  Our neighbors had the little wishing well in the trash pile last year, so Dennis rescued it and painted it for me.  I love it!

The rhubarb is going gangbusters with the cool, wet weather.  I've harvested several times already and it needs it again.

And one last photo.  This is my Mom, sister Melanie, and I on our way to church, probably around 1965-1966 or so.  Again, Mom made our dresses and I love the knee socks.  My sister just lives about 3 blocks from here now and has lived there for at least 40 years, (I think it's been 40 years, I lose track of time).  One brother is just 6 blocks away and another brother just on the other side of the river.  Melanie sent me a house listing just one block over from here that just came on the market yesterday.  Guess where she wants us to move when Dennis retires?

The most recent news is that I am definitely Vitamin D deficient so they started me on mega doses of Vitamin D on Monday.  I have felt kind of yucky ever since.  Is that normal?  Tired, tummy upset, and barely sleeping at all.  I keep thinking it's just a supplement so there shouldn't be any side effects, but it is 50,000 IU in one little tiny pill!  Only one pill a week.  I'm told that your D3 levels should be 29 or higher and mine was 18.  Let's hope this is the reason for the back not healing and I'll soon be on the mend.

I thank you ALL for your sweet comments, prayers and well wishes.  I feel like I've been all "doom and gloom" for awhile now and I really want that to change.  Hopefully this will do the trick.

And now, I have more garage sale "stuff" to do.  I have to make a sign for the main road and take some more small things downstairs.  This garage sale is a LOT of work.  I don't know how people do them all of the time.

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Wednesday my sweet friends!

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  Hebrews 11:1

Blessings always,

Betsy